Chamber - Herrera 'wrong' on disciplining of lawyers who advertise services

Labour MP and shadow justice minister Josè Herrera last week criticised the president of the Chamber of Advocates Andrew Borg Cardona, for fining two lawyers who accepted to be interviewed by the media.

“They were fined because of this ridiculous rule that lawyers cannot advertise their services, when a simple Google search reveals a long list of financial services lawyers and their firms, which is tantamount to advertising.”

In a statement, the Chamber’s secretary-general Reuben Balzan said lawyers who abusively advertised their services are reported to the Chamber by the Commission for the Administration of Justice.

The MP’s comments were made on Super One Radio’s programme It-Tokk.

“The Chamber of Advocates has full trust in the president of the Chamber,” Balzan said, referring to Herrera’s comments on Andrew Borg Cardona.

“To me he is not good for the post, he uses two weights and two measures,” Herrera said during the programme.

The Chamber also said it could not agree with Herrera’s proposal to delegate the powers of the Commission for the Administration of Justice, which is presided by the President of the Republic, to a parliamentary committee.

“The Commission has an important role in the guarantee of the judiciary’s independence,” Balzan said.

Herrera’s comments were especially harsh towards the Commission, when he claimed that it was “interfering in the private and social lives of judges and magistrates” and defended their right to throw parties, saying the judiciary had a tradition of entertaining people

Herrera is the brother of magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, who reported Malta Independent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia for criminal defamation in several blogposts concerning the magistrate’s personal life and parties she hosted, throwing a spotlight on the public behaviour of the judiciary.

“Rather than wasting its time in victimising certain magistrates or judges by looking into their personal and social lives, the Commission for the Administration of Justice should look into the real problems that are hindering the normal administration of justice,” Herrera said about the constitutional body – which is chaired by the President of Malta – and oversees the work of the judiciary.