The rules governing solicitors' undertakings — promises that bind without consideration and carry personal liability whether or not performance remains possible.
An undertaking, once given, is one of the hardest obligations in professional conduct to escape. This chapter begins with what makes a communication an undertaking — the four required elements, and why neither the word 'undertake', writing, nor consideration is needed. It then examines how disputed terms are interpreted and how conditional undertakings differ from unconditional ones, before turning to the strictness of personal liability: an undertaking survives the retainer, is not excused by client obstruction or impossibility, and binds the solicitor even when given 'on behalf of' a client. It closes with the three routes to discharge, who can grant a release, and how undertakings are enforced through the courts and through SRA and Tribunal sanctions.
