The Chamber of Lawyers calls for moderation in the public criticism of lawyers

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The Chamber of Advocates called for moderation in public criticism of lawyers and expressed disappointment at what it said were repeated attempts to “influence or condition a lawyer in the performance of his duties. , consistently and consistently making public and media comments in an unfavorable and almost humiliating manner.

Although the House refrained from identifying the attacks or the lawyer it was referring to – declining to expand further when asked – the statement is seen as a reaction to the President’s recent messages and Facebook posts. of the Repubblika, Robert Aquilina, who this morning compared the courtroom behavior of Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg and State Attorney Chris Soler to their “North Korean counterparts.”

The comments were made in the context of the Repubblika case, attacking the attorney general’s order not to prosecute senior Pilatus Bank officials, despite charges recommended by a judicial inquiry.

Before this morning’s session was postponed for reasons beyond the control of either party, Aquilina had announced that he would present evidence that would incriminate “the people that Victoria Buttigieg and Angelo Gafa are protecting”.

But Aquilina then wrote that: “Soler defends Victoria Buttigieg. In their behavior, together, they resemble North Korea’s attorney general and state attorney.

It was this comment that appears to have drawn the ire of the House of Advocates, which stressed that lawyers should not be confused with their clients or the actions of their clients. “…It is the lawyer’s duty to his client to do all that is lawful and within the parameters of professional ethics to promote his client’s case…the lawyer should never and under no circumstances be associated with his client – or be the object of attacks on his person or his professionalism simply because he exercises his functions”.

The Chamber castigated the practice of “constantly commenting publicly and in the media in an unfavorable and almost humiliating way on the functioning of particular lawyers, in a way that is precisely aimed at conditioning the lawyer to exercise independent judgment; and this is even more so when the person making such comments is the counterparty in a particular case.

She explained that it is obvious, in an adversarial justice system, that the counterparty will not agree with what the opposing lawyer has to say to defend the case of his client. “It’s a matter of maturity that one understands and appreciates that in an adversarial system in a judicial forum, this confrontation is inevitable, but that it should not lead to personalization or intimidation or ridicule of the lawyer to do his job. The role of lawyers on both sides is to participate in the whole process to obtain justice and that without being embarrassed by what their client would have done or ridiculed publicly simply because they did their duty.

The House said this applied no less to the state’s attorney. “It is clear that when a lawyer, including the State’s attorney, as a professional, makes his case in court, it does not mean that it is his personal case, but it is the case of his client.”

Responding to the House statement in a subsequent Facebook post, Aquilina said State Attorney Chris Soler “is well aware of the way he conducted himself during the closed sessions, out of sight journalists”.

Praising Soler’s “habitual, respectful, and elegant manners,” he wrote that the state’s attorney “must not expect my colleagues and I to allow him, his colleagues, and his clients to rolling over us… For Chris Soler to avoid looking bad, he only has to do one thing: act right. He must seek the interests of justice and work with an attitude that respects democracy and transparency.

Aquilina urged the state’s attorney not to allow himself to be used as a hindrance in the course of justice, adding that it was “not too late to get back to the Dr. Soler that I know.”

Aquilina pledged to continue to speak out and criticize Soler and anyone he felt it necessary to criticize. “It is not an abuse, but a duty. It is democracy. »

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