Passports remain property of the government even after they have been issued, and it is a crime to have in your possession or control the passport of another without a reasonable excuse: ss. 6A and 9A Passports Act, 1938. A solicitor may exercise a lien over property of the client received by her in the course of a retainer. Is a client’s passport a document over which she may assert such a lien? The answer is yes, because the client’s status as bailee of the passport is a sufficient proprietary interest for the purposes of lien law to bring it within the class of things, as against the client, over which a lien may be exercised: CYX v Council of the Law Society of NSW [2009] NSWCA 430. Another aspect of this decision is the subject of this post.
See also:
- Trustee has standing to apply to set aside costs agreement between bankrupt and solicitor
- Unpaid fees deny prof neg plaintiffs inspection of discovered file
- The lien and the solicitor who finds himself practising certificateless
- Latest fruits of litigation lien decision: SA
- Detailed new conflict rules commence in England
http://swarb.co.uk/solicitors-.....e-reasons/