9.1 Award of Costs against Solicitors under the Courts inherent juridiction

Because solicitors are officers of the court, the court has an inherent power to order a solicitor personally to pay costs thrown away by reason of a serious dereliction on the part of the solicitor of his duty to the court. However, such an order should be made only in exceptional circumstances that are not covered by the statutory powers referred to in the previous section of this Guide.

9.2 No such order may be made until reasonable notice has been given to the solicitor of the matter alleged against him and he has been given a reasonable opportunity to reply.