Step 1 · What you say
Protected from the first call.
What we do, in detail
Professional secrecy, confidential correspondence, conflicts, and matters.
Program 01 · Criminal, not just ethical
Professional secrecy
It covers what you tell us and everything we learn because of the matter, including in sensitive cases the fact that you came at all. Breaching it is a criminal offence rather than a professional failing. It does not expire, surviving the case, the relationship and the client's death. And the part people find strange: because the obligation is of public order, a client cannot simply switch it off on request. The lawyer remains its keeper, which is what makes it worth anything.
Step 2 · What we learn
Equally protected.
Step 3 · After it ends
Still protected.
Step 4 · Afterwards
There is no afterwards.
Step 1 · The approach
Made lawyer to lawyer.
Step 2 · The exploration
Frank, because protected.
Step 3 · The outcome
Reported to you in substance.
Step 4 · The letters
Not handed over, and why.
Program 02 · Why settlement works
Confidential letters
Communications between lawyers are in principle confidential: they cannot be produced in proceedings and cannot be handed to a client as a document to rely on. That rule is what makes negotiation possible, because a lawyer can explore a settlement without every concession becoming an admission to be read out later. It also means we cannot give you that correspondence even if you ask. Certain categories of letter are treated as official, and those are the exception.
Program 03 · Checked, then declined
Conflicts
A lawyer cannot act for parties whose interests conflict, and the test applies at the level of the practice rather than the individual. So a conflict check happens before an instruction is accepted, not after a relationship has formed and documents have changed hands. Where a conflict appears during a matter, we withdraw. Being turned away early is a far better outcome than being represented by someone who should not be acting.
Step 1 · The parties
Who is actually involved.
Step 2 · The check
Across the practice.
Step 3 · The answer
Including no.
Step 4 · The referral
To someone who can act.
Step 1 · The facts
With the documents behind them.
Step 2 · The position
Including when it is weak.
Step 3 · The route
Negotiation, or proceedings.
Step 4 · The close
Reported, with funds returned.
Program 04 · Facts first
Advice and matters
Advice can only be given on a specific situation once the facts and documents have been examined, which is why nothing on this site is advice. The basis on which fees are calculated is agreed before we are instructed, and fees are never a share of the result, which the profession prohibits. Client money is held on a third-party account and passed on without delay. Time limits matter: a limitation period can extinguish a right whatever its merits.
Something you need to talk through?
A first conversation, with no obligation.