James is a litigation partner in a large commercial law firm in Adelaide. The firm comprises 15 partners and 50 solicitors. One of the firm's biggest clients is a pharmaceutical company, Health Solutions Ltd. ("Health Solutions"). Health Solutions manufactures a pain relief drug called Myrsyndol. This has been one of Health Solution's biggest-selling drugs, but two months ago it was withdrawn from the market as it learned that people who had taken the drug for a year or more had a possibility of developing the auto-immune disease Sjogrens. The only people who know why Myrsyndol was taken off the market are James, the senior management group at Health Solutions, and Frank Jarvis, the research scientist who made the findings about the link between Myrsyndol and the onset of Sjogrens. Health Solutions has asked James for his advice on whether it should:

1. say nothing about the problem with Myrsyndol so that any litigation against it will be delayed; or
2. vigorously defend all litigation commenced against it; or
3. prolong litigation so as to discourage parties from pursuing their claims; or
4. award Frank a grant of two million dollars to go to Africa for a five-year period and conduct research into bilharzia; or
5. transfer its assets to another offshore jurisdiction so that it will not be able to compensate users of the drug who develop Sjogrens disease.

In addition, James' cousin Alicia has been a client of his law firm for 10 years. She has asked James to draft her will and to include a bequest of $750,000 to Health Solutions so that Health Solutions may use it to further its research and development into pain-killing drugs. Alicia has used Myrsyndol for the past 6 months to treat her chronic lumbar disc pain. She thinks it is an outstanding pain relief drug and believes that she has benefited from taking it. She intends to keep taking it indefinitely.

James is in a quandary. He had decided to tell his old friend Bruce, a senior barrister and the current president of the Bar Association (SA), all the above to obtain guidance and advice from Bruce. He wants Bruce to advise him about his legal and ethical obligations to Health Solutions regarding each of the 5 options it has outlined above. He also seeks Bruce's advice about what legal and ethical obligations he owes to his cousin. 

What advice do you think Bruce will give to James? In your answer, you must specifically refer to one or more of the 4 ethical frameworks (adversarial advocacy, responsible lawyering, moral activism and ethics of care) and to the relevant provisions of the Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules.

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

In providing guidance to James Bruce being the president of the Bar Association in South Australia is likely to consider the ethical frameworks of res... View the full answer