The President of the Chamber of Advocates, lawyer Louis Degabriele said that the Chamber has issued a practise note regarding professional secrecy
In his speech at the start of the Forensice Year, Degabriele said this note contains guidance on how lawyers should react in cases where their professional secrecy is threatened by public authorities in the execution of an inquiry or investigation.
“Honestly, I would never have thought that I would have to defend such a fundamental principle to the legal profession in the year 2021,” remarked the lawyer. “The Chamber cannot remain silent when a lawyer is placed in a situation where he is required to break the law to conform with an order by the inquiring authority. The law is clear and should be given full effect, clearly and unequivocally.”
This professional secrecy is not a privilege of the profession, but a crucial right, Degabriele said. It is fundamentally required in order to allow persons to give their lawyer an accurate picture of the situation, without fear and is protected under the European Convention of Human Rights, he said.
Searches in a professional’s office could breach this secret unless there are adequate safeguards and the European Courts have ruled that special procedures should be in place for such eventualities.
“We should divest ourselves of the idea that legal privilege and professional secrecy are some means of encouraging or protecting criminal activity. The fundamental principle remains that if the investigating authorities want the communications of a lawyer’s client, for evidence of some criminal intention, then the first thing they should do is seize the document or evidence from the client himself and not use the lawyer for this.”
Degabriele also repeated his call for better regulation of the legal profession, saying that the time had come for a new regulatory framework which would bring the profession into the 21st century. He called for coordination between the legislator and the profession in this aspect.
He closed his address with a declaration of solidarity with the staff in the Gozo courts who are taking industrial action over their conditions and work environment.
The note may be found here