Law: The terrible temptations which face solicitors: Record numbers of firms are currently undergoing investigation for breaches of the professional rules. Robert Verkaik reports

The appearance of Howard Ogden, Frederick West's former solicitor, before the Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal (the case has been adjourned until 6 December for a pre-trial review) on allegations of professional misconduct has highlighted the ethical tightrope which lawyers have to walk.

Mr Ogden, a sole practioner from Gloucester, is being prosecuted by the Solicitors' Complaints Bureau for bringing the solicitors' profession into disrepute.

He is accused of using confidential material - mainly interviews with Mr West - for the preparation of a book about his former client.

The Law Society's professional ethics department receives more than 40,000 requests a year from solicitors asking for help on questions of professional conduct.

A record number of firms is currently being investigated for breaches of the solicitors' rules, and last year the bureau received 19,500 complaints. According to the bureau, these levels of investigations are likely to rise.

Alison Crawley, head of policy in professional ethics at the Law Society, is well aware of the pressures and temptations solicitors face. She runs courses for young solicitors who are two or three years into practice on the subject of ethics and professional conduct, but admits: 'Whether it's enough I just don't know.'

Christina Heidensohn of the Solicitors' Complaints Bureau warns solicitors of the 'very serious view' taken by the bureau of breaches of the Law Society's rules.

There is always room for improvement in training and guidance, she says, but adds: 'Some of the solicitors before the tribunal were well aware of the rules before they broke them.'

The case of Howard Ogden is exceptional, she says. The majority of serious complaints reaching the bureau involve client accounts. Money seems to be the root of most solicitors' evils.

'I imagine the sort of people who are feeling financially insecure at the moment are practitioners in small firms who haven't had any conveyancing work for a long time, and also those who have been squeezed out of legal aid work,' Ms Crawley says.

'When you are doing the same thing day in day out and not earning very much money, then one can see why some - the very few - have been tempted to do something dishonest with clients' money,' she believes.

But these solicitors, says Ms Crawley, aren't the ones who contact the Law Society asking for help and advice with problems they may have encountered. 'The ones who ring us up are trying to find the right solution to their problems as opposed to the wrong one.'

Corporate lawyers, while perhaps more financially secure, face greater temptation. Insider deals offer high rewards with little risk of detection. But, Ms Crawley believes, the pressure to pass on insider information comes from family and friends seeking hints about potentially profitable investments, rather than solicitors themselves using information for their own profit.

Lawyers can reap huge rewards from writing books about notorious cases in which they have been involved. Publishers are often willing to make extremely generous offers to lawyers with good factual writing skills.

The rules of confidentiality, privilege, and conflict of interest prohibit solicitors from writing books or selling stories about a case before it has finished, however. 'Most of the solicitors who have written books have been pressured into it after they have acted for the client,' Ms Crawley says.

'When the matter has been concluded, it would be possible for the solicitor to go back to the client and get a waiver of confidentiality,' she says. This is a contract on which the former client should obtain independent advice.

'Occasionally we have calls from solicitors who want to write a novel - 'faction' - about the cases they have been involved in by changing the names,' Ms Crawley says.

'Pop stars and footballers are increasingly using solicitors as managing agents. And as solicitors become more and more sucked into their clients' affairs, the lines between independent advice and self-interest become blurred,' she says.

'There is nothing wrong with a solicitor acting as an agent on a commission basis, providing he or she is not also acting as an officer of the court,' Ms Crawley says.

Recently qualified lawyers face very different pressures, however. Hard-pressed partners and other senior lawyers have been known to delegate too much work to inexperienced solicitors, and some younger solicitors find themselves out of their depth in cases that require a more experienced hand. These are situations where vulnerable solicitors may succumb to temptation.

A graduate embarking on training today as a solicitor can expect more help in this area than his predecessors. The legal practice course (LPC) and the modern training contract include a greater amount of guidance on professional conduct than the old Law Society finals and articles.

Professional conduct is a so- called 'pervasive' subject on the LPC, and trainee solicitors must attend a compulsory professional skills course.

According to Tim Toghill, head of recruitment and training at the Law Society, this emphasis on professional conduct is vital. 'Solicitors can be placed in very difficult situations,' he says.

He acknowledges that young lawyers can be vulnerable, but points out that as part of their contract solicitors must make themselves aware of the codes of practice.

The recent recommendation to set up a barristers' complaints bureau suggests that the Bar Council is also keen to show its teeth in stamping out dishonesty and corruption.

But the prospect of a barrister facing a similar allegation to Howard Ogden is unlikely. The Bar's rules on direct access - in the main, clients have access to barristers only through solicitors - mean that temptation is not so often strewn in the barrister's path.

Steven Kay, secretary of the Criminal Bar Association, believes this is a good reason for retaining the Bar's independence. 'By opening the profession up to wider areas, the barrister may be exposed to greater temptation,' he says. 'As legal aid work is reduced, then the danger of people seeking to make money on the side of the case grows.'

Christopher Sallon QC, a member of the Bar Council's public affairs committee and a former member of its professional conduct committee, believes that if direct access were increased, barristers would be exposed to more allegations from clients.

'The presence of the solicitor makes the temptation to interfere with evidence or coach the witness less likely,' he says.

Perhaps the most common ethical dilemma faced by a barrister is the receipt of gifts from grateful clients. The rule is that a gift must not be accepted before the end of the case, and it must not be a sum of money.

Mr Kay and Mr Sallon, both criminal lawyers, have received champagne from clients at the end of cases. 'Gifts should be given openly and cannot be an inducement which would affect a course of action,' Mr Sallon says. 'The Bar is governed by the law which prohibits corruption just as much as anybody else.'

The law is a high-pressured profession. Last month, Law Society president Charles Elly told a conference that the death rate of lawyers from alcohol-related disease was 55 per cent higher than in other professions.

Lawyers will always have to find ways of dealing with stress, but just as alcoholism isn't the answer, neither is the abandonment of professional ethics.

(Photograph omitted)