Cab Rank Rule

The ‘Good’ and the ‘Bad’ of the Cab Rank Rule

The cab rank rule is possibly the most prominent and distinguishing ethical rule of the English Bar. Barristers are compelled by the Code of Conduct to implement the ‘cab rank rule’. Under the ‘cab rank rule’, self-employed barristers have a fiduciary duty and are obliged to be accessible to clients on a ‘first-come, first served’ basis. This principle indicates arguments which rejection is inexcusable and unjustifiable, regardless of if the suit is inconvenient and unsuitable for the barrister for any cause. The rule indicates the restricted situations such the duties of lawyers, affordability of fees and the expertise of the lawyer is limited in that area; for which a lawyer can repudiate a client. Despite these exceptions, the rule resumes having substantial judicial power and is a resource of statements to ethical indifference and principled jurisdiction. The application of the ‘cab rank rule’ under the legal system has had many debates about whether this principle represents everything that is good and everything that is bad about the legal profession.
The most fundamental reason of the ‘cab rank rule’ emanates from the ratification that admission to legal demonstration is a vital just for individuals as it is basic for the adversarial to operate effectively. Pannick (1992) declares that ‘any lawyer who does not understand the purpose of the rule really has no business being an advocate’. He emphasised the elimination of the rule would be to undermine and misjudge the detachment of the lawyer and would account people to miscomprehend that an attorney’s reasoning are not essentially his personal conviction but instead recommendations of his client. The ‘cab rank rule’ represents everything that is good about the legal system as it’is an intrinsic protection to the defenceless despite how abhorrent and despicable the accusations against them are, they still have a right for a legal representation and are...