Stephen Mayson

We are delighted to share @stephenmayson.bsky.social 's latest paper 'Lawyers and 'acting in the best interests of clients,'' which explores (amongst other timely issues) the tension between this duty & the public interest tinyurl.com/4sbbrkwc
@laws.ucl.ac.uk
#LegalEthics
#ProfessionalEthics

In conversation with Lady Arden of Heswall, DBE This event is organised by the UCL Centre for Ethics & Law

An updated link to register for our event with Lady Arden on 15 October 2025: www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/events/...

We are delighted to share the recording of @stephenmayson.bsky.social UCL lunch hour lecture discussing lawyers and what it means (or should mean) to be acting in a client's best interests.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pa5...

#ProfessionalEthics
#LegalProfession
#BestInterests

@laws.ucl.ac.uk

I am very honoured to be delivering the Faculty Office annual rule of law lecture for 2025. It is on 10 July in Westminster and will explore the rule of law and ethical integrity.

Details at www.facultyoffice.org.uk/wp-content/u...

Stop enabling kleptocrats, ethics task force tells lawyers A report says the profession’s reputation is at risk when acting for clients with unexplained wealth and abusive litigators

Stop enabling kleptocrats, ethics task force tells lawyers - in @TimesLaw www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...

Lunch Hour Lecture | Lawyers and ‘acting in the best interests of clients’’ Professor Stephen Mayson discusses what it should mean for lawyers to fulfil their professional duty to act in the best interests of their clients.

For the diary: on Tuesday 18 March, I shall be giving a UCL lunchtime lecture on ‘Lawyers and ‘acting in the best interests of clients’’. It's online, free and booking details are at www.ucl.ac.uk/events/event...

A balanced and perceptive assessment. But isn’t part of the challenge the absence of a definitive and common view among regulators, professions and government about what the regulators are ‘supposed to do’?

Leaders Club online session with former Lord Chancellor Alex Chalk KC, December 2 at 6pm. Not-to-be-missed session, Where is the Justice?, reflections on crucial changes that he sees as vital to restoring confidence in the justice system. Sign up here:
www.theleadersclub.org/item/where-i...

Ethical clashes can cause young lawyers health problems Having a professional identity as a young lawyer that does not align with the values of your law firm could turn “wellbeing issues into serious health problems”, a leading legal academic has warned.

Ethical clashes can cause young lawyers health problems www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/...

In-house solicitors pressured to misuse privilege In-house solicitors have been pressured to misuse legal professional privilege as a way to suppress the proper disclosure of information, the SRA has said.

In-house solicitors pressured to misuse privilege www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/...

💭 Rethinking ethics training

“Ethics interventions have failed and will continue to fail because they are predicated on a false assumption: … “

#legalethics #iopsychology

Lack of sanction for costs draftsman shows "hole in regulation" A judge’s comments on the lack of recourse against an unregulated costs draftsman should focus minds on this hole in legal regulation, the Association of Costs Lawyers has argued.

Lack of sanction for costs draftsman shows “hole in regulation” www.legalfutures.co.uk/litigation-d...

Thanks Neil. @richardmoorhead.bsky.social has done the really heavy lifting; but between us we couldn’t have been clearer about nature and extent of problems, what is missing from current practice, and which way to go. We need a shift to “What is the right thing to do?” + regulatory enforcement.

This is a serious piece of legal scholarship by @stephenmayson.bsky.social which a 700-word news story cannot really do justice to. This and the recent Hamlyn Lectures from @richardmoorhead.bsky.social are sounding a claxon about legal ethics. Is the profession listening? Will it be made to?

Mayson: Lawyers must prioritise public interest over clients Lawyers seem to have forgotten that the public interest trumps the client interest and this needs to change, Professor Stephen Mayson has argued.

Mayson: Lawyers must prioritise public interest over clients www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/...

The problem is that an evidence-based discussion cannot resist external ownership (because that evidence doesn’t exist). So blind prejudice and insult is the only option available in the abject quest to hide self-interested protectionism

Moorhead: "We have to change the way lawyers think and behave" The leading figure on legal ethics in the UK has called for the creation of an independent commission charged with improving “honesty, integrity and effectiveness in the use of law”.

We have to change the way lawyers think and behave. How? Some thoughts... legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/... and for some detail lawyerwatch.wordpress.com/2024/11/14/l...

I should say as well as the Post Office and Neuberger, we have guest appearances from a Mr Amersi, various banking scandals, enabling Oligarchs, Al Fayed, Weinstein, Green and top billing for former Times lawyer and his handling of the Nighthack disgrace. Let’s just cease to be subjective shall we?

The SRA – an unprecedented crisis of confidence Be in no doubt that yesterday marked the deepest crisis that the Solicitors Regulation Authority has ever faced. It needs to show humility and accountability.

Blog: The SRA – an unprecedented crisis of confidence www.legalfutures.co.uk/blog/the-sra...

“Are you proud to be a lawyer?” Once, this was not a difficult question to answer.  When I became a barrister in 1977, my answer would have been immediate and unequivocal.  Like many of my generation, I was the first in the famil…

“Are you proud to be a lawyer?”. A new post, announcing the publication of the third report of the Independent Review of Legal Services Regulation (@IRLSR). It focuses on the meaning and implications for lawyers of ‘acting in the public interest’: wp.me/p1rQgF-1zy

If those lawyers were ‘proper professionals’, should they really need even a reminder - let alone a warning?

The Hamlyn Lectures 2024 | Frail Professionalism, Lawyers Ethics after the Post Office and other cases These lectures will argue it is time to change the way lawyers think and behave, and how courts, clients, and regulators set their expectations. You can now book tickets for Exeter, Leeds, or London.

Hamlyn Lectures. Me (I know, sorry not sorry). On Frail Professionalism. A lot on the PO but also other things. Book now. Free and open to all… open.substack.com/pub/richardm...