Confidentiality and Conflict of Interest Policy

This policy explains how Standing Lawyers protects client information, the legal protection that attaches to it, the narrow circumstances in which it may be disclosed, and how conflicts of interest are identified and managed.

An advocate's duty of confidentiality is wider than anything a published policy can capture, and it is owed as a matter of professional obligation rather than contract. This document sets out the practical measures that stand behind it.

1. The duty

1.1 Everything a client tells us, and everything we learn in the course of acting, is confidential. The duty applies to the fact of the engagement itself, to the identity of the client where that is not public, to documents, to instructions, to advice, and to material we see but do not use.

1.2 The duty does not end when the matter ends. It continues after the engagement is concluded, after the file is closed, and after the client relationship has ceased altogether. It binds the firm and every person who works for or with it, including any interpreter, clerk, employee, consultant or contractor engaged to assist.

1.3 Confidential information is used only for the matter for which it was given. It is never used for the firm's own advantage, for another client's advantage, or to the disadvantage of the client it belongs to.

2. Legal professional privilege

2.1 Beyond the professional duty, communications between an advocate and a client attract statutory protection. Section 132 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, which replaced section 126 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, provides that an advocate shall not, without the client's express consent, disclose any communication made in the course and for the purpose of the advocate's service, nor state the contents or condition of any document known in the course of that service, nor disclose any advice given.

2.2 The section carries an express Explanation that the obligation continues after the professional service has ceased, and sub-section (3) extends the same protection to interpreters, clerks and employees of the advocate. Section 134 of the same Act protects the client, providing that no one may be compelled to disclose a confidential communication with a legal adviser unless the client offers himself as a witness.

2.3 The protection is not absolute. Section 132 does not apply to a communication made in furtherance of an illegal purpose, or to a fact observed by the advocate in the course of the service showing that a crime or fraud has been committed since the service began. It is immaterial whether the advocate's attention was directed to that fact by the client.

2.4 In a judgment delivered on 31 October 2025 the Supreme Court of India held that an investigating or prosecuting agency may not summon an advocate merely because the advocate gave a legal opinion or represented a party. Where an agency asserts that one of the statutory exceptions applies, the summons must state the facts and reasons relied on, must have the prior written approval of an officer not below the rank of Superintendent of Police, and remains open to challenge before the High Court. Documents and devices are to be produced before the jurisdictional court, which decides any claim of privilege after hearing both the advocate and the client, rather than being examined by the investigating officer.

2.5 If any authority approaches us in relation to a client's matter, we will assert privilege on the client's behalf, we will require the statutory conditions to be satisfied, and we will tell the client unless we are prohibited by law from doing so.

3. A note on how privilege is preserved in practice

3.1 Privilege attaches to communications with an advocate. In the judgment described in clause 2.4 the Supreme Court held that a salaried in-house counsel does not enjoy the protection of section 132, because an employee in that position is not an advocate in practice within the meaning of the Advocates Act, 1961. Communications between in-house counsel and independent external counsel do remain privileged.

3.2 We state this because it affects how a company should route a sensitive communication, not as a comment on anybody's arrangements. Where a matter is sensitive, involve us directly in the communication rather than summarising our advice into an internal chain, mark the communication as seeking legal advice, and keep it to the people who need it. We will advise on this at the outset of any matter where it is likely to be tested.

4. When information may be disclosed

4.1 Confidential client information is disclosed outside the firm only in these circumstances:

• with the client's instruction or consent;
• to a person engaged to assist on the client's matter, such as counsel briefed to appear, a local agent or an expert, in each case bound to the same duty and disclosed only to the extent the task requires;
• where disclosure is compelled by law, by a court or tribunal of competent jurisdiction, or by a regulator with authority over us, and only to the extent compelled;
• where an exception to privilege in clause 2.3 applies, and to the extent it applies;
• where necessary to establish or defend our own position in a dispute with the client, or to answer an allegation of professional misconduct, and only so far as necessary for that purpose; and
• where the law requires a report to an authority and prohibits us from telling the client, in which case we comply with both requirements.

4.2 Where we are compelled to disclose and are not prohibited from saying so, we will tell the client before disclosing wherever it is possible to do so, so that the client may take steps to resist or limit the disclosure.

5. Measures that protect confidential information

• Client material is accessible only to those working on the matter.
• Privileged material is identifiable as such within a matter file, so it is not disclosed inadvertently in a bundle or a data room.
• Documents are exchanged through channels agreed with the client. Sensitive material is not sent over open email where the client has asked for a different route, and we will propose one where the content warrants it.
• Anyone engaged to assist on a matter is bound in writing to the same duty before receiving anything.
• Artificial intelligence tools are used only within the restrictions in clause 4.6 of our Data Protection and Information Security Policy, which prohibit entering client confidential information into any tool not engaged on terms that forbid training on it.
• The physical and technical safeguards in our Data Protection and Information Security Policy apply to all confidential information, not only to personal data.

6. Conflicts of interest

6.1 What a conflict is

6.1.1 A conflict may be direct, where the interests of two clients, or of a client and the firm, are opposed in the same or a related matter. It may also be indirect, where confidential information we hold for one client is or may become relevant to another client's matter, whether or not we would in fact use it.

6.1.2 A conflict may also arise between a client's interest and the firm's own interest, including a financial interest, a personal relationship, or an interest in the outcome of a matter. Any such interest is disclosed to the client, and where it is material we do not act.

6.2 Checking

6.2.1 Before accepting any new matter we check the proposed client, the opposing parties and the other parties involved against the clients and matters we act on or have acted on. Because the duty of confidentiality survives an engagement, the check runs against closed matters as well as current ones.

6.2.2 The check is repeated when a new party enters an existing matter, when a corporate group changes, and whenever the character of a matter changes materially.

6.2.3 To make the check possible we ask for the names of all parties at the outset. This is why we ask you not to send substantive detail before the check is complete, and why an enquiry through this website should describe the nature of a matter rather than its content.

6.3 What happens when a conflict is found

6.3.1 If a conflict exists at the outset, we decline the matter. We explain why so far as we can do so without breaching a duty of confidentiality owed to anyone else, which sometimes means we can say only that we are unable to act.

6.3.2 If a conflict emerges during a matter, we stop work on the affected matter, inform the clients concerned so far as we may, and withdraw from one or both engagements as the position requires. Where we withdraw, we do so in a way that protects each client's position, including by allowing time to instruct another adviser.

6.3.3 We do not proceed on the basis of a consent or waiver that leaves either client materially exposed. A waiver is not a substitute for the absence of a conflict.

6.4 Conflicts that arise in recovery matters

6.4.1 Recovery work generates conflicts of a particular shape, and they are worth naming because they are easy to walk into and hard to leave:

• Between heirs. Two or more people claiming through the same deceased holder, whose interests are aligned on recovering the asset and opposed on who receives it.
• Between a nominee and the heirs. A nominee receives the holding from the institution, which does not settle whether they keep it as against the estate. Where the nomination and the family position differ, we cannot act for both sides of that question.
• Between joint holders, or between a surviving joint holder and the estate of the holder who died.
• Between a creditor and a debtor we act or have acted for, including where a debtor is a company whose director is a client in another capacity.
• Between creditors of the same debtor, who compete for the same limited fund, most obviously in an insolvency or a liquidation.
• Between an assignee of a claim and the estate that assigned it, where we have acted on either side of the assignment.

6.4.2 We therefore ask, at the outset of every recovery matter, who else may be entitled to the asset and whether they know of the claim. That question is asked for the conflict check and for the entitlement check in clause 4A of our Anti-Money Laundering and Client Due Diligence Policy, and an answer that does not satisfy us is a reason to decline.

6.5 Joint clients

6.5.1 Where we act for more than one client on the same matter, we tell them at the outset that information given by one is ordinarily available to the others, that we cannot keep material information from one joint client on the instruction of another, and that if their interests diverge we may have to cease acting for one or both.

6.5.2 This is the ordinary arrangement where a family instructs us together on an estate, and it is the reason we prefer it. Acting for the heirs jointly, with everything visible to all of them, is both cheaper for the family and safer for us than acting for one and corresponding with the rest.

6.6 Former clients

6.6.1 Information held for a former client can prevent us acting against that client later, even where the earlier matter is long closed and unrelated on its face. We treat the question as one of the risk to confidential information rather than of the passage of time.

7. Breach of this policy

7.1 Any actual or suspected breach of confidentiality must be reported immediately under clause 5 of our Data Protection and Information Security Policy. A breach by a person working with the firm is a disciplinary matter and may be a breach of professional obligation reportable to the Bar Council.

Effect, review and contact

A This policy takes effect on 7 August 2026 and replaces any earlier version of it published on this website. The version published here is the operative version at any given time.

B We review this policy at least once a year, and additionally whenever the law, our systems or our practice changes in a way that affects it. Where a change is material we will say so on this page and, where the change concerns personal data and we hold a means of reaching you, we will tell you directly.

C Questions about this policy, and any request or complaint arising from it, should be sent to work@standinglawyers.com, marked for the attention of the Grievance Officer where it is a complaint. We can also be reached on +91 63766 28978.