Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules

The Australian Solicitors Conduct Rules (ASCR) are a collaboration by the state and territory law societies and other constituent professional bodies of the Law Council on an agreed set of professional conduct rules for solicitors in Australia. This work is undertaken by the Law Council’s Professional Ethics Committee, with the support of the Law Council Secretariat. The Law Council also produced a Commentary on the Australian Solicitors Conduct Rules. 

The ASCR are a statement of professional and ethical obligations derived from solicitors’ duties as an officer of the court, the common law and equity, legislation, and the collective judgment of the legal profession about standards of conduct to be “observed or approved of by members of the profession of good repute and competency”. The Rules are an exercise of self-regulation: firstly, by the profession as a whole, as statements of agreed standards of the profession; and secondly, by each member of the profession as a commitment to their peers, their clients, the courts, and to the broader public interest in the rule of law and administration of justice.

The commitment to abide by the professional conduct rules is reinforced by State and Territory legislation, which sets out the authority and processes for developing professional conduct rules, the formal requirements for those rules to be “made” so as to also become binding under the legal profession law of each State and Territory, and their relationship to the statutory complaints and disciplinary provisions in those laws.

The ASCR were first endorsed by Law Council Directors in June 2011 and have been adopted nationally through State and Territory legislation as:

• the South Australian Legal Practitioners Conduct Rules (Part A), applicable from July 2011.
• the Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules, applicable in Queensland from June 2012.
• the Legal Profession Uniform Law Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules 2015, applicable in New South Wales and Victoria from 1 July 2015, and in Western Australia from 1 July 2022.
• the Legal Profession (Solicitors) Conduct Rules 2015 (No.2), applicable in the Australian Capital Territory from 1 January 2016.
• the Legal Profession (Solicitors’ Conduct) Rules 2020, applicable in Tasmania from 1 October 2020.
• the Australian Solicitors Conduct Rules (NT), applicable in the Northern Territory from 1 September 2025.

Developing professional rules

Proposed changes to the ASCR are settled by the Law Council in collaboration with the constituent professional bodies. The proposed changes then go through statutory consultation and other formal processes set out in the applicable State and Territory legal profession laws governing the making of professional rules.

Section 427(2) of the Legal Profession Uniform Law (applicable in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia) confers on the Law Council the authority to develop proposed Uniform Rules for Legal Practice, Continuing Professional Development and Legal Profession Conduct so far as they apply or relate to solicitors.

When introducing the Uniform Law proposals into the Victorian Parliament in December 2013 the then Attorney-General noted that the power to develop uniform rules in these areas preserves the legal profession’s ability to set internal standards with which members of the profession must comply.

In developing these rules for Uniform Law jurisdictions the Law Council consults with the Legal Services Council and the Commissioner for Uniform Legal Services Regulation, together with Committees of the Council and designated regulatory authorities, as required, in the Uniform Law jurisdictions. In addition, the Law Council undertakes public and targeted consultations on proposed Rules.

In the other States and the Territories, the authority to develop and make legal professional rules for solicitors in those jurisdictions is conferred on the Queensland Law Society, the Australian Capital Territory Law Society, the Law Society Northern Territory, the Law Society of South Australia and the Law Society of Tasmania. Some variations may be found in the professional conduct rules for solicitors in these jurisdictions.

Reviews of the ASCR

The Law Council periodically reviews of the Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules to ensure that the rules remain current, appropriate and responsive to new and emerging developments and expectations in legal practice and professional obligations.

2015 Review

Following endorsement by the Law Council 2011, a period of time was allowed for the ASCR to be adopted and operate in practice before undertaking any substantive reviews. The ASCR were updated in March and April 2015, ahead of them being formally made as Rules under the Uniform Law, when minor technical changes were made, apart from the omission of the former Rule 29.12.5.

2018–2020 Review

On 1 February 2018, the Law Council began the first comprehensive review of the ASCR. Read a copy of the Law Council’s 2018 Consultation Discussion Paper on the Review.

The Consultation Paper invited submissions on 111 matters, touching upon 37 of the 43 then current Rules; together with 4 of the definitions in the Glossary and 5 potential new Rules. The Law Council received 45 written submissions and responses to the Consultation Paper. In addition to the 111 matters canvassed in the Consultation Paper, an additional 35 matters were raised in submissions and during the deliberations of the Professional Ethics Committee.

In accordance with the co-regulatory objective of the Uniform Law, the Law Council undertook further consultations and discussions with the Legal Services Council on the proposed changes arising out of the Review, and in October 2020 the Law Council and Legal Services had settled on the final form of changes to the Rules.

Short-term legal assistance services

A significant issue arising in 2018-2020 review of the ASCR was the need to clarify the application of existing ethical principles relating to avoiding conflicts of interest (between current clients, or between current and former clients) when a solicitor or law practice provides short-term legal assistance services. Short-term legal assistance refers to legal services provided on a one-off basis by legal assistance services such as legal aid commissions and community legal services, or by the pro bono services of law firms.

On 6 November 2020, the Law Council released a public consultation paper on short-term legal assistance services. Read a copy of the 2020 Consultation Discussion Paper on short-term legal assistance services.

Following those public consultations the Law Council adopted a new rule – Rule 11A which is incorporated in the current ASCR.

Rule 42 (Anti-discrimination and harassment)

Subsequent to the 2018-2020 ASCR Review, further amendments were proposed in respect of Rule 42 (Anti-Discrimination and Harassment). This further review of Rule 42 was a result of the Law Council’s July 2020 National Roundtable Addressing Sexual Harassment and the subsequent consultations informing the Law Council’s National Action Plan to Reduce Sexual Harassment in the Australian legal profession (NAP).

Read a copy of the 2021 Consultation Discussion Paper. 

Following those public consultations the Law Council adopted a revised version of Rule 42 which is incorporated in the current ASCR. The purpose of the revision is to:

• clarify that Rule 42 applies to discrimination, harassment and workplace bullying conduct that occurs in any setting connected with legal practice or the legal profession;
• ensure that professional disciplinary bodies can appropriately respond to matters concerning sexual harassment as either unsatisfactory professional conduct or professional misconduct; and
• express the profession’s collective view that discrimination and harassment (and, in particular, sexual harassment) are unacceptable conduct when occurring in any situation connected to legal practice or the legal profession.

Rule 38

The Law Council has initiated a review of ASCR Rule 38 – Returning Judicial Officers – following concerns raised after the Rule was revised during the 2018–2020 Review, about its application to former court officers such as registrars, and former members of tribunals, particular where service as a court officer or tribunal member was undertaken under a fixed, short-term, part-time or sessional basis. This review is still underway.

2026 Review

On 27 February 2026, the Law Council released a Consultation Paper on proposed changes to ASCR Rule 8 (Client instructions) and ASCR Rule 13 (Completion or termination of engagement), together with a proposed legal practice rule about retainer agreements.

Read a copy of the 2026 Consultation Paper. 

The impetus for the review has been the application (from 1 July 2026) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2026 (Cth) to the legal profession, and obligations arising in relation to, in particular, the provision of legal services that have been “designated” as services to which that Act applies. The objective of the proposed changes has not been to create new ethical duties or professional responsibilities, but to clarify the scope of the ASCR and set out expectations that solicitors inform client about termination of retainer agreements, in light of the application of the AML/CTF Act to the legal profession.

ASCR Rule 8 has been amended to clarify that a solicitor must only follow a client’s lawful, proper and competent instructions. In practice, this means that a solicitor must be satisfied (including before accepting instructions from a prospective client, or new instructions from an existing client) that the client’s instructions are for a lawful and proper purpose, and that the solicitor must follow only client instructions that are, and continue to be lawful, proper and competent. The AML/CTF Act has introduced stringent “customer due diligence” obligations intended to minimise the risk a law practice might reasonably face when providing “designated services” that those services might facilitate money laundering, terrorism financing, proliferation financing and other serious financial crimes.

ASCR Rule 13 has been amended to insert a definition of “just cause” that highlights particular (but not the only) circumstances where a solicitor may have “just cause” to terminate a retainer, which include:

• instructions that require, or any circumstance where continuation of the engagement would cause, a solicitor to breach his or her ethical duties and professional responsibilities;
• any circumstance where a solicitor is no longer able to act in the client’s best interests;
• any circumstance where a client has not provided all information requested of them that is required to fulfil a solicitor’s statutory obligations.

Where a client’s instructions would be for an unlawful or improper purpose, and the client cannot be dissuaded from pursuing that course of action, a solicitor has just cause to terminate the retainer.

In certain circumstances specified in the AML/CTF Act (and in other Commonwealth, State or Territory legislation) a solicitor may be compelled to disclose client confidential information but is prohibited from informing the client of that fact. In this situation the solicitor has just cause to terminate the retainer because the solicitor cannot continue to meet important ethical duties and professional obligations, and cannot continue to act in the client’s best interests.

Where legislation, such as the “customer due diligence” provisions in the AML/CTF Act, require a solicitor to obtain (and in some cases independently verify) certain documents or information, and the client fails to provide those documents or information, the solicitor has just cause to terminate the retainer because continuing to act would cause the solicitor to contravene statutory obligations under the AML/CTF Act.

A new legal practice rule (Rule 12) has been inserted in the Legal Profession Uniform Legal Practice (Solicitors) Rules 2025 (applicable in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia) which provides that a retainer agreement should, in addition to any other provisions relating to termination of a retainer, inform the client to the effect that:

• the solicitor is subject to statutory obligations, including reporting obligations that might include confidential information;
• the solicitor may terminate the retainer (and notify the client) where continuing to act would require the solicitor to breach their ethical duties or professional responsibilities, and
• the law may prohibit the solicitor from providing reasons for terminating the retainer on the above grounds.

It is important that solicitors make clients aware of how the AML/CTF Act might impact the provision of legal services, including the provision of services that are “designated services” under the AML/CTF Act, and that clients should acknowledge/agree that the legal services are provided subject to those impacts.

Law Societies in jurisdictions that are not part of the Uniform Law scheme have made either a corresponding legal profession rule, or have issued updated guidance about retainer agreements.

Commentary to the Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules

Following the introduction of the ASCR in 2011 the Law Council prepared and published a Commentary for legal practitioners intended to provide additional information and guidance in understanding how particular Rules might apply in some situations.

Consultations during the 2018–2020 Review called for an expanded Commentary, with more detailed explanations of the principles underpinning the rules, and how particular Rules might apply in a variety of situations encountered in legal practice. The Law Council has also been mindful that the Commentary is of interest to a broader range of people and organisations than only members of the legal profession.

To accompany the changes arising from the 2026 Review, the Commentary to ASCR Rule 8 (Client instructions), ASCR Rule 9 (Confidentiality and ASCR Rule 13 (Completion or termination of engagement) has been updated.

Read a copy of the current published Commentary.

It should be noted that the Commentary does not constitute part of, or in any way constitute additional codification of, the Rules, nor is the Commentary intended to be the definitive or sole source of information about the Rules and their application. Practitioners are especially reminded that extensive information and guidance on ethical issues encountered in legal practice is available from their local Law Society.

Current Rules

Read the current version of the Australian Solicitors Conduct Rules developed by the Law Council.

The version applicable in Uniform Law jurisdictions (New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia) is available on the NSW Government website.

For versions in force in other jurisdictions it will be necessary to contact the local law society.

Last Updated on 07/07/2026

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