A review of recent Australian case law on conflicts of interest reveals a vibrant and active jurisprudence. In short, there are lots of new cases, some fought at the injunction level and some fought by way of full trial, while the quality of the judgments is generally high. In Canada, which now has to cope with a Supreme Court of Canada decision that a lawyer cannot act for and against the same client at the same time, even on unrelated matters, there are plenty of new cases too.
By contrast, there is currently precious little conflicts litigation in this jurisdiction. Why? I can vouch from personal experience that there are as many conflicts issues and problems as ever. Notwithstanding the introduction of the new Law Society rules last year, there are plenty of conflicts disputes capable of generating litigation.
