Barmaid, your instructions are to do the best for your lay client. That includes ignoring instructions from instructing solicitors which make the case worse or which may adversely affect the lay client's prospects before the same tribunal in that case . If the professional client wants to do that anyway he doesn't need counsel. He can make things worse all by himself (after all that's what he's uniquely qualified to do) He uses counsel is to get the best result. That's why he takes counsel's opinion.If he's got any sense, he takes it. If counsel has any sense and is not of such seniority to know that, whatever he does, the solicitor will automatically trust him to use his expertise and discretion as the case develops, he makes sure, if need be in the strongest terms to say what he will do in certain circumstances.
Believe me, if counsel did everything their solicitor wanted, they'd lose a lot more cases than they do already.
This was a solicitor. I'm not surprised.