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GAZETTE
DECEMBER 1991
Referring to the book, Mr MacEntee
continued: " I t is a brilliant book
about the law as practised in
Ireland. The stories are extremely
funny and perennial. A theme runs
through the book which is that Rex
Mackey believes every barrister has
an anarchistic streak. The stories
are not merely legal anecdotes, it
is a book with profound humanity
and above all it is extremely
humorous."
Rex Mackey is a senior member of
t he Irish Bar. Educated at
Castleknock College, UCD, King's
Inns and the Inner Temple, he took
time off to become a distinguished
actor in both Dublin and the West
End. At a time when the Abbey
was at its greatest, he starred in
Drama at Innis; he acted in the Gate
w i t h Hilton Edwards, Michael
Macliamoir and Orson Wells in a
variety of roles. He has written the
dialogue for films in the UK. He also
wrote plays for radio and a series
for television. All through this
period Rex Mackey kept up his
practice at the Bar and became a
member of the English Bar.
The Gazette
will shortly review
Windward of the Law.
The book (in
hardback) is available from the
Round Hall Press, Kill Lane,
Blackrock, Co. Dublin at £19.50
Solicitor's Duty over Character
Reference on Client
The Queen's Bench Division (UK)
held in the case of
Edwards and
Others -v- Lee (The Times
Law
Report, November 5, 1991) that a
solicitor who was asked to give a
character reference on a client and
who was constrained by legal
professional
privilege
f r om
disclosing that the client was
facing criminal charges, could not
give t he client any sort of
favourable reference.
The Court held that the solicitor
could not fulfil his duty of care to the
reference-seeker unless he first
sought his client's permission to
reveal all that he judged it necessary
to tell. If the client then refused
permission, the solicitor should
consider whether he could properly
tell the reference-seeker anything.
Damages for negligence to the third
plaintiff, Cabana So ft Drinks
(Surrey) Ltd, were awarded against
the defendant, Julian Lee, a
solicitor.
Brooke J. said the defendant was
a solicitor whose client Mr. Robert
Hawkes was at the relevant time
awaiting trial on 13 charges of
criminal deception and other
o f f ences of dishonesty. The
p l a i n t i f f s, David and Susan
Edwards and their company,
Cabana Soft Drinks (Surrey) Ltd,
claimed they had suffered financial
loss because of false, misleading
and negligent assurances about Mr.
Hawkes's integrity given by the
defendant after Mr. Hawkes had
referred t hem to him for a
reference.
Mr. Hawkes had approached Mr.
Edwards offering to arrange an
exchange of his Mercedes car, then
worth £28,500, for a Turbo Bentley
which could be sold at a profit. Mr.
Edwards had handed over the car,
but began to worry about the
ar rangement wh en he was
approached by a Mr. Folley who
had been offered the car by Mr.
Hawkes for £25,500 and was
suspicious about it.
Mr. Edwards had confronted Mr.
Hawkes, who at first denied having
approached Mr. Folley, then denied
the price of £25,500 and finally
said he would not sell to Mr. Folley.
When Mr. Edwards threatened to
terminate their arrangement, Mr.
Hawkes had told him to approach
Mr. Lee, his solicitor, for a character
reference.
Mr. Lee had persuaded himself that
because of legal professional
privilege he could not lawfully tell
Mr. Edwards that Mr. Hawkes was
at that moment awaiting trial on
charges where the facts were more
or less identical to those currently
worrying Mr. Edwards. He had told
Mr. Edwards that he knew of no
reason why Mr. Edwards would not
recover his money. In the event,
Mr. Edwards did not recover his
money.
In his Lordship's judgment, Mr. Lee
could not fulfil his duty to Mr.
Edwards to take such reasonable
care as the circumstances required
unless he first sought his client's
permission to say all that he knew
of him, warts and all, which he
judged it necessary to tell Mr.
Edwards in order to fulfil his duty
to him.
If Mr. Hawkes had w i t hhe ld
permission in whole or in part, Mr.
L-R: The Hon. Mr. Justice Brian Wa/sh, Rex Mackey SC, Dick Spring T.D.,
the Hon. Mr. Justice Henry Barron and Patric MacEntee SC PC at the
launch of 'Windward of the Law' by Rex Mackey, published by the
Roundhaii Press.
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