What is the effect of the Court of Appeal's "unfettered" right to discharge an attorney at any time?

In exercising their common law powers, courts do not kneel in blind obedience to such misguided reliance on precedent. Mindful of the maxim that "general expressions, in every opinion, are to be taken in connection with the case in which those expressions are used" (Cohens v. Virginia (1821) 19 U.S. (6 Wheat.) 264, 399, 5 L.Ed. 257), they seek in every case a just resolution, identifying those circumstances that lay claim to conscience, considered in light of applicable principles of law. ³ While the "unfettered" right of the client to discharge his attorney at any time is an important value that should be upheld in most cases, the legal consequences of such an act will vary, depending on the strength of competing interests that are present in a particular case.