Duty on changing firms

Koch Shipping Inc v Richards Butler (a firm) (CA LSG 26 September p39)

A partner in a firm instructed by the applicant company involved in protracted arbitration proceedings, left the firm and joined the defendants’ firm of solicitors, which was instructed by another party to the arbitration. The partner admitted possession of relevant confidential information relating to the applicant and he agreed not to discuss the arbitration or communicate with the defendants’ case handlers. However, she refused to undertake to work other than at the defendants’ offices. It was held on appeal that the judge had been wrong to hold there was a real risk of inadvertent disclosure by the solicitor of confidential information and to impose an injunction. Each case turns on its own acts, but the risk of an experienced solicitor of integrity in directly or inadvertently letting slip relevant confidential information about a former client was not a real risk but a fanciful one. The judge had erred in imposing the injunction.