MORALES & MORALES

In *Morales & Morales*, the husband sought to restrain his counsel, Mr Darren Mort, from appearing in the proceedings. The application arose because Mr Mort's daughter, a fourth-year law student, was undertaking work experience at the wife's solicitors' firm. The husband argued that this created a conflict of interest and apprehended bias, necessitating Mr Mort's removal from the case.

The central legal issue before Thornton J was whether the circumstances gave rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias, thereby justifying the restraint of Mr Mort from representing the husband at trial. This required the court to consider the ethical obligations of legal practitioners and the principles governing conflicts of interest in the context of legal representation.

Thornton J found that the daughter's work experience at the wife's solicitors' firm, even if she was not directly involved in the husband's matter, created a sufficient apprehension of bias. The court applied the principle that justice must not only be done but must also be seen to be done, and that the appearance of impartiality is as crucial as actual impartiality. The potential for confidential information to pass, however inadvertently, between the daughter and her father, or for the daughter to gain insights into the wife's case that could indirectly benefit the husband's counsel, was sufficient to raise a reasonable apprehension of bias.

Consequently, Thornton J ordered that the husband be restrained by injunction from instructing or briefing Mr Darren Mort in relation to these proceedings. Costs of the day were reserved to the trial.