“The removal of a solicitor of record under r. 15.04 of the Rules of Civil Procedure is within the court’s discretion. Although a client may terminate the relationship at will, Rule 3.7-1 of the Law Society of Ontario’s Rules of Professional Conduct provides that “[a] lawyer shall not withdraw from representation of a client except for good cause and on reasonable notice to the client”. Rule 3.7-2 allows that “…where there has been a serious loss of confidence between the lawyer and the client, the lawyer may withdraw.” The commentary gives examples of a serious loss of confidence justifying the solicitor’s withdrawal, including when “the client refuses to accept and act upon the lawyer’s advice on a significant point”. As the Supreme Court instructed in MacDonald Estate v. Martin, 1990 CanLII 32 (SCC), [1990] 3 S.C.R. 1235, at para. 16, the rules of professional conduct of the profession’s governing body “should be taken as expressing the collective views of the profession as to the appropriate standards to which the profession should adhere” and “an expression of a professional standard in a code of ethics relating to a matter before the court should be considered an important statement of public policy.”
Considerations informing the exercise of the court’s discretion to remove a solicitor of record include the impact of the removal on the client’s interests, on the other parties, and on the administration of justice, and whether the solicitor and client relationship has broken down because of, for example, a loss of confidence in the solicitor’s abilities or the client’s failure to communicate or follow instructions and to make a reasonable payment on the solicitor’s reasonable accounts: R. v. Cunningham, 2010 SCC 10 (CanLII), [2010] 1 S.C.R. 331, at para. 50; KingSett Mortgage Corporation v. 30 Roe Investments Corp., 2023 ONCA 196, at paras. 13 and 18; 1621730 Ontario Inc. v. Queen (Ontario), 2012 ONSC 604; Kovinich v. Kovinich (2008), 58 C.P.C. (6th) 78 (Ont. S.C.), at paras. 40-42; Nicolardi v. Daley (2003), 34 C.P.C. (5th) 394 (Ont. S.C.), at paras. 8-10 and 15-16; Johnson v. Toronto, 1963 CanLII 128 (ON SC), [1963] 1 O.R. 627 (H.C.J.). While the impact of the removal on the client’s interests and the client’s views are important, the question is not simply whether the client wishes the solicitor to continue but whether all the circumstances, including, for example, the client’s loss of confidence, justify the solicitor’s withdrawal: Kovinich, at para. 41; Nicolardi, at para. 15.”