A summary of the main occasions when you should decline to act:

where it would involve you in a breach of professional conduct (eg undisclosed contract race);

if you lack the expertise to carry out the client’s instructions confidently;

if you do not have sufficient time to devote to the client’s affairs;

where the instructions are tainted by duress or undue influence (eg elderly client and sale of home);

another solicitor is acting (and the retainer has not been terminated);

where the client’s freedom to instruct the solicitor of his choice has been constrained in some way (eg the client has received a discount from a builder on the condition that a certain solicitor is used); or

if it would involve you in a breach of the law (eg fraudulent conveyance), or in a breach of the discrimination laws.

Source: Conveyancing Checklists by Frances Silverman and Russel Hewitson (2nd ed; Law Society Publishing; £44.95). Recommended (it could be described as the junior version of the Conveyancing Handbook).