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BC Court of Appeal addresses the Fiduciary Duties of Lawyers
It is trite law that the solicitor-client relationship is characterized as a fiduciary relationship: Hodgkinson; Galambos v. Perez, 2009 SCC 48 at para. 36. The nature of fiduciary relationships is summarized in Hodgkinson at 405:
… it is only by having regard to the often subtle differences between these causes of action that civil liability will be commensurate with civil responsibility. For instance, the fiduciary duty is different in important respects from the ordinary duty of care … the presence of loyalty, trust, and confidence distinguishes the fiduciary relationship from a relationship that simply gives rise to tortious liability. Thus, while a fiduciary obligation carries with it a duty of skill and competence, the special elements of trust, loyalty, and confidentiality that obtain in a fiduciary relationship give rise to a corresponding duty of loyalty.