The Supreme Court (SC) has reminded lawyers against taking up cases between clients which gives rise to a conflict of interest, as it suspended a lawyer for three months after finding him administratively liable for violating the prohibition.
In its resolution uploaded online on October 4, the court reiterated that a lawyer’s “duty of loyalty to client subsists even after the termination of the attorney-client relationship.” This as the high court suspended lawyer Magnificus Cañete for three months after finding him administratively liable for representing conflicting interests.
The complaint had been lodged by businessman Manuel L. Dy Jr., whose sole proprietorship business had been Cañete’s client from 1997 to 2001, and which was later converted into a corporation in 2005 with the spouses Manuel and Jean Dy as principal stockholders.
A case for qualified theft against Jean was later initiated by Manuel following alleged unauthorized disbursement to transfer corporation money to her personal account.
An administrative case was initiated by Manuel against Cañete after the latter represented Jean in the cases.
Cañete said his engagement as lawyer to Manuel happened 14 years ago and was unrelated to the present cases he handled for the wife.
“It is not good practice for a lawyer to defend other persons in another case against his former client under the pretext that the (new) case is distinct from and independent of the former case,” the court said, adding that any confidential information previously acquired during his engagement as retained counsel might be used against the previous client.
Source: Philippines News Agency
