John Flood looks at the cab rank rule

At his blog, Random Academic Thoughts, Flood look at the present and future status of the cab rank rule in England and Wales, here, here, and here.

Comments

[Monroe Freedman]

In 1972 I had a Ford grant to visit several countries, including England, to interview lawyers about ethical practices. One of the things I learned is that the cab rank system meant only that the barristers did not reject clients – their clerks did it for them, screening out potential clients who didn’t fall within the barrister’s preferred area of practice, had insufficient funds, etc.

A number of other misconceptions about British lawyers are dealt with in Lawyers’ Ethics in an Adversary System, ch. 9 (“The Myth of British Superiority”) (1975). I'm sure that there have been some significant changes in British practice since then, but not, I believe, on most of what is reported there.