The Chamber of Advocates misinterpreted my comments, said Labour MP and party spokesperson for Justice, José Herrera, in reaction to a press release issued by the Chamber of Advocates on comments he gave regarding whether lawyers should advertise their services or not, during the programme It-Tokk on One radio last Thursday.
In the press release, the chamber pointed out that Dr Herrera was incorrect when he said that the chamber adopted an inconsistent approach against some of its members who abused the regulations regarding the advertising of their professional services.
Such abuse was always reported to the Commission for Justice, which is the entity responsible for taking action against such infringement of regulations, depending on a case-by-case basis, said the chamber.
The chamber did not refer to information on the internet: a simple search for ‘lawyers in Malta’ on the internet reveals various websites of law firms indicating what legal services they offer.
And the lawyers’ chamber itself has a list of its members and their contact information, which is available online.
“What I suggested is that the regulations of advertising on lawyers’ services need to be revised and amended in a way that reflects today’s reality. I am saying that this anomaly needs to be resolved. It is not the first time and neither am I the first politician who spoke about this issue,” said Dr Herrera, adding that he had already spoken to some chamber officials about it and they assured him that it was a resolved issue.
Dr Herrera added that there are a number of law firms which have law firm websites on the Internet. He referred to lawyers who work within the financial services industry in particular.
“On Monday I was applauding lawyers who managed to take the initiative to attract work arising from financial services, in parliament, and today we have this situation. Should lawyers be attending radio and TV programmes to speak about legal issues? Should they be giving comments to newspapers or online about legal technicalities? It is unfair that some lawyers have been fined or censored because of this,” he went on.
“I never said that the chamber adopted double standards full stop. What I said is that the chamber adopts a double standard on this specific issue,” he insisted.
In its press release, the chamber disagreed with the proposal made by Dr Herrera, that Parliament should be the only body to investigate the administration of justice.
The chamber believes that the Commission for the Administration of Justice is fulfilling an important role to ensure the judiciary’s independence throughout the parliamentary process so that members of the judiciary are disciplined or removed by parliament accordingly.
During the radio show, Dr Herrera mentioned that the Commissioner for the Administration of Justice was interfering in the private lives of members of the judiciary. The quote was also referred to during an interview with Opposition leader Joseph Muscat on Monday’s edition of the weekly TV programme Bondi+.
Dr Muscat said that Dr Herrera wasn’t 100% right in his argument, but he understands that his family was subject to personal attacks on the media.
He thinks that Dr Herrera’s reaction is an outburst but insisted that the gist of his argument is to focus on what the Maltese people expect from the judiciary and how politicians should act to solve people’s problems.
The Chamber of Advocates expressed its full trust in the current president of the chamber, Andrew Borg Cardona.