HIBAPRESS – Abdellatif Baraka
After long tug-of-war with lawyers' associations, the Minister of Justice, Abdellatif Wahbi, revealed to the public the draft law No. 66.23 regulating the legal profession, in a move described within professional circles as reshuffling the cards of justice, and transferring disciplinary authority from the hands of professional bodies to a space controlled by the Public Prosecution.
The project, which was presented under the title of modernizing the profession and linking responsibility with accountability, grants the Public Prosecution unprecedented authority to request the temporary suspension of a lawyer from practicing the profession, an action that lawyers consider a "sword hanging" over the necks of the defense, especially in sensitive cases in which the lawyer is in direct confrontation with the prosecution authority.
Despite the Ministry of Justice's confirmation that the suspension is not automatic, and that it is surrounded by legal guarantees and precise conditions, widespread fears prevail within lawyers' associations of expanding the margin of interpretation, and the possibility of turning the disciplinary procedure into an undeclared tool of pressure, affecting the independence of the lawyer and the freedom of defense.
The project did not stop at the limits of temporary suspension, but rather opened the door for the Public Prosecution to challenge the preservation decisions issued by the chiefs regarding complaints, with disciplinary decisions being subject to strict judicial control, which critics of the text see as a direct infringement on the independence of the self-organization of the profession, and a transformation of the lawyer from a partner in achieving justice to an actor subject to permanent control.
In contrast, the Ministry of Justice defends the project as part of a comprehensive reform of the justice system, which aims to cleanse the profession from practices that harm its reputation and enhance the confidence of litigants, stressing that the independence of the legal profession does not mean immunity from accountability.
Between the reform rhetoric and the concerns of the profession, it seems that the draft law on the legal profession is likely to ignite a new confrontation under the dome of Parliament, the broad title of which is: Are we facing a strengthening of justice or a taming of the defense profession?
