Staying on the Right Side of the "Bright Line"

In the Supreme Court of Canada's recent decision in Canadian National Railway Co. v. McKercher LLP, the Chief Justice of Canada writing on behalf of the entire Court re-asserted the importance of the "bright line rule" for conflicts of interest faced by legal practitioners.

In that case, McKercher LLP had acted as primary counsel to CN Rail for some time. McKercher accepted a retainer to sue CN for $1.75 billion class action, and began ending its retainer agreements with CN. CN only discovered that McKercher had been engaged to act against CN's interests when it was served with the claim. Upon this discovery, CN applied to strike McKercher as solicitor of record in the class action.