Legal Communication and Ethical Decision Making: A Memorandum

This assignment presents a memorandum of advice from a lawyer to their supervising solicitor, addressing the legal troubles of Mabel Wright, an Australian solicitor. Mabel faces issues of contempt of court and violations of the Australian Solicitor's Conduct Rules 2015, including submitting a fraudulent document on behalf of her brother, sending an unprofessional email, and arguing with a judge. The memorandum identifies key facts, potential legal issues, and proposes a course of action. It meticulously analyzes Mabel's actions, referencing specific clauses of the Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules, such as honesty, courtesy, competence, and the paramount duty to the court. The proposed course of action includes an apology to the academic committee and a change in professional conduct. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the ethical and legal implications of Mabel's actions, offering a detailed analysis and a plan for future action to mitigate the consequences of her misconduct.

Running head: LEGAL COMMUNICATION AND ETHICAL DECISION MAKING
Legal Communication and Ethical Issues
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
Being ethical in one’s code of conduct is imperative for all those who engage in legal
practice. In the country of Australia in particular, there is a code of conduct that solicitors are
expected to adhere to in order to be able to practice in federal and other courts, and in order to
be regarded as solicitors in the truest sense of the term. This assignment prepares a
memorandum of advice that is sent by a lawyer to his supervising solicitor, stating the legal
advice that ought to be provided to Mabel Wright, an Australian solicitor who has recently
landed herself in legal trouble because of contempt of court and other violations of the
Australian Solicitor’s Conduct Rules of 2015. The memorandum mentions the key facts of
the mistakes committed by Mabel Wright, the potential legal issues she could face and
outlines a future course of action for her.
To – [e-mail]
Subject – Contempt of Court and Violation of Australian Solicitor’s Conduct Rules 2015 by
client Mabel
Dear Mark
I am writing to you over my concerns about how to best represent the interests of my
client Mabel, an Australian solicitor who has recently violated a number of provisions under
the Australian Solicitor’s Conduct Rules 2015, as a result of actions that she has undertaken
in both her personal and in her professional life. Mabel is a passionate and determined
solicitor in her own right and works very hard at her job. It is astonishing to me that she could
think it alright to violate the ethical codes of conduct for solicitors as established by the
Australian Solicitor’s Conduct Rules of 2015, the way she did, and I now have to come up
with a number of ways to analyze the issues that she is faced with and arrive upon the best
possible solution to address such issues in the most effective of ways. I would like to let you
know that I plan to go about this by first identifying the material or key facts of the situation
that Mabel is in, after which I identify all the potential legal issues that she is faced with after
which I plan an outline for future action for her. I fervently hope that I am able to devise apt
and legally sound solutions to help Mabel navigate her way out of the situation that she finds
herself in right now.
Short Advice

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Mabel Wright is in legal difficulties because of several serious offences that have
been committed on her part as a practicing solicitor. She has committed fraud on behalf of
her brother, sending a legal document attesting to the fact that he was assaulted and hence
could not complete an assignment on time for a course that he is studying at law school, and
for which reason therefore he needs an extension. She has sent a very rudely drafted email to
a fellow solicitor, stating how his obnoxious behavior in her opinion makes it difficult for her
to perform her own duties as a solicitor and she has committed the most dangerous offence by
arguing back with a judge at the federal court. Mabel needs to tender immediate apologies in
order to avert any punitive action from being taken against her. She must understand the
provisions of the Australian Solicitors Code of Conduct Rules of 2015 with a greater degree
of clarity if she is to arrive at understanding of how exactly she is expected to behave if she
intends on practicing in Australian courts over the long term rather than having her career end
in disgrace.
Long Advice
1. Identifying the Material/Key Facts of Mabel’s Case
Mabel has committed a number of wrongs of late, the most important one out of this
being that she signed a document as a solicitor stating that her brother had been a victim of
assault, as a result of which he was not able to complete certain assignments that were
necessary in order for him to pass a certain subject in law school. Her brother was actually on
vacation due to which he could not make the time to appear for the necessary assignments,
and decided to appeal to the academic committee at the department of law, at the university
where he is enrolled for an extension, so that he could submit the assignment at a later date.
There was no evidence provided for a case as serious as assault, leading the academic
committee to rightly assume that Mabel’s brother was fabricating things and that the
document signed by Mabel was illegal and unjust and not to be taken seriously. The
immediate consequence of Mabel’s decision to sign this fake document in order to help her
brother is that her brother has failed the subject altogether, has been granted no extension and
is also expected to appear before the concerned authorities at his university for something as
grievous as academic misconduct. The second faux pas committed by Mabel was at her work
place. She has been distracted by the behavior of a fellow solicitor, not getting along with
him at all, and not cooperating with him well enough to do the tasks that he requires to be
done of her. She finds him rude and obnoxious and for this reason alone, she finds it alright to

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not cooperate with him at the work place, not to respond to him when he requests her about
the status of work, to disagree with him every step of the way, and to be as resistant to his
efforts at imploring her to do the needful as possible, since she has made up her mind that he
is rude and annoying and that his role in her life is to make her affairs as a lawyer far more
difficult than they could be. In my view, this is juvenile really, given that Mabel appears to be
complaining about the solicitor in much the same way that one would complain about an
annoying fellow class mate. The third and most grievous offence that has been committed by
Mabel is to get into conflict with a justice at the Federal Court. It is a fact well established by
the provisions under the Australian Solicitors Conduct Rules of 2015, that talking back to a
judge is regarded as contempt of court. Mabel has gone ahead and done just that. She and the
justice of the case that Mabel is working on do not see eye to eye on several matters, leading
to Mabel openly expressing her discontentment with the judge, letting the latter know exactly
what she thinks and feels about her, something that cannot be tolerated in any court of law
from a solicitor.
2. Identification of Potential Legal Issues
As a solicitor, Mabel has violated the law when she decided to sign a fake document
that stated that her brother was involved in an assault and was therefore unable to complete a
university assignment on time and for which he needed an extension. Mabel knew that she
could come up with no concrete evidence to prove that her brother had actually been
assaulted and that in truth, he was holidaying and was therefore not in a position to complete
his assignments to pass a specific subject in law school. Clause 4.1.2 under section 4,
“Other Fundamental Duties” of the Australian Solicitors Rules of Conduct 2015 states
that solicitors are to be honest and courteous in all dealings in the course of legal
practice. Clause 4.1.4 under the same section states that solicitors are to avoid any type
of compromise that may be made to their dignity and their professional independence.
1Mabel has been found to violate both these provisions by dishonestly signing a document
which claimed that her brother had been a victim of assault and that he needed an extension
to submit his assignment, when in truth she knew that there was no genuine evidence that she
could provide in order to prove the same, and that it was entirely illegal of her to sign a
document stating falsely, that her brother had been assaulted. Additionally, the same activity
has led Mabel to violate clause 5.1 under section 5 on Dishonest and Disreputable Conduct
under the Australian Solicitor’s Conduct Rules 2015. According to clause 5.1 no solicitor
1 Solicitors, Legal Profession Uniform Law Australian. "Conduct Rules 2015." Rule

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must engage in the type of activity that demonstrates that the solicitor is not fit to
engage in the practice of law or which is likely to either bring the legal profession into
disrepute or diminish public confidence in or be prejudicial to the way that justice is
administered in the country of Australia. 2
When it comes to Mabel’s stance towards or attitude that she has taken to her solicitor
colleague, Mabel is seen to be violating clause 4.1.3 under section 4 on Other Fundamental
Duties as stated under the Australian Solicitor’s Conduct Rules 2015. According to clause
4.1.3 a solicitor is expected to deliver legal duties in a competent and diligent fashion
and in as prompt and as reasonable a manner as possible. When it comes to her behavior
towards the solicitor, Mabel is behaving in anything but a competent fashion, constantly
complaining about the solicitor being rude, annoying and on her back at all times.
Mabel has violated several provisions under the Australian Solicitor’s Conduct Rules
2015 in her attitude and behavior towards the female judge who is overseeing a case that
Mabel is working on at the federal court. By being rude, brash and outspoken with the judge,
Mabel has violated clause 3.1 under section 3 on paramount duty to the court and the
administration of justice as established under the Australian Solicitor’s Conduct Rules
2015. According to clause 3.1 the duty of an Australian solicitor to the court and to the
administration of justice is paramount and that this prevails to the extent of any type of
inconsistency with any other duty that solicitors are expected to fulfill. By failing to be
courteous with the judge, Mabel has violated clause 4.1.2 under section 4 on Other Ethical
Duties, which states that solicitors are to be honest as well as courteous in their dealings
when engaging in any type of legal practice.
3. Outlining a Course of Future Action for Mabel
The first important course of action that ought to be taken by client Mabel is for her to
tender an official apology to the academic committee of her brother’s university, stating that
the full facts of the assault had not been known to her, and had she been aware of the fact that
concrete evidence for the same could not be provided, she would not have signed the
document which stated that he had been a victim of assault in the first place. While such an
action may not necessarily spare Mabel from punitive consequences, it will give the academic
committee at her brother’s university the impression that Mabel does take her duties as a
solicitor seriously and that had the full facts of the case been known to her, namely, that
2 Solicitors, Legal Profession Uniform Law Australian. "Conduct Rules 2015." Rule

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evidence to prove that an assault had indeed occurred was missing, then she would not have
signed the document asserting the same, which she mistakenly did.
When it comes to her behavior with her fellow solicitor, Mabel needs to be made to
understand by alluding to the relevant provisions under the Australian Solicitors Conduct
Rules of 2015 that her behavior in this respect is entirely unprofessional and unexpected from
a solicitor and that if she does not refrain from such behavior, she may just end up facing
legal action initiated by the solicitor. She needs to be made aware of the fact that she is
expected to be courteous and professional in her dealings with matters of justice and the law
all of the time and that any failure on her part to do so would imply that she is not competent
enough to perform her duties as a solicitor in the first place. 3
Finally, with regard to her behavior with the justice at the federal court, a legal and
formal apology needs to be immediately tendered on behalf of client Mabel to the justice at
the federal court, if Mabel is to be allowed to continue to work as a solicitor in Australian
courts in the future. She has violated her paramount duty to the court and to the
administration of justice in Australia by being rude and brazen and by talking back to a judge,
and the most fitting of legal apologies is needed, wherein it shall be stated that Mabel had
committed her actions under duress, in order for her to be allowed to enter a court of law
again. 4
Conclusion
Thus, there are quite a few immediate actions that need to be taken on the part of
Mabel Wright if she is to save herself from legal duress. Only by gaining a full and thorough
understanding of the Australian Solicitors Code of Conduct Rules of 2015 can Mabel Wright
realize where it is that she went wrong, how her behavior in the various mentioned instances
were legally unacceptable and the decorum that she needs to adhere to in order to be regarded
as a respectable solicitor in Australia.
References
Solicitors, Legal Profession Uniform Law Australian. "Conduct Rules 2015." Rule
3 Solicitors, Legal Profession Uniform Law Australian. "Conduct Rules 2015." Rule
4 Ibid

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