Chief Justice disappointed with ‘small number of lawyers’ who drag cases on

Lawyers who keep dragging cases on even when they are lost on appeal are “unprofessional” and worthy of being disbarred, Chief Justice Joseph Azzopardi said

The stern words came on Monday morning during the chief justice’s customary speech at the opening of the forensic year at the law courts. This was Azzopardi’s first such address, having been appointed to the post earlier this year.

Members of the judiciary attending the ceremony to mark the opening of the forensic year

Azzopardi expressed his disappointment with a “small number of lawyers” who do all they could to draw out proceedings, even after the appeal stage.

“Recently it has become fashionable for - after a final decision and often after several years - the lawyer of the losing party to first request a retrial and when this is turned down, all of a sudden the lawyer realises that he did not have a fair hearing and proposes a constitutional case,” Azzopardi said.

This was “unprofessional and worthy of the suspension of the lawyer’s warrant”, the Chief Justice said.

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Azzopardi praised the new system introduced two years ago to scrutinise prospective candidates for the judiciary and called for further improvements to it. While the eventual appointment of judges and magistrates is made by the justice minister, a Judicial Appointments Committee reviews prospective candidates and makes its recommendation.

Addressing those who took to social media to comment about the appointment of individuals to the Bench, Azzopardi reminded all that magistrates and judges took an oath of loyalty towards the republic and to the people. “I am certain that all take their oath very seriously,” he added.

Chamber of Advocates President George Hyzler

Law regulating lawyers in the offing

A draft law regulating the legal profession has been finalised and handed to the Attorney General the president of the Chamber of Advocates said.

George Hyzler said that a last meeting was held last week with the Justice Minister during which the last point of controversy was addressed.

Hyzler was delivering the traditional speech reserved for the president of the chamber at the opening ceremony marking the start of the court year.

“It is my pleasure to confirm that this week we had what I hope is the last meeting with the Minister for Justice and addressed the last point of controversy that there might have been. The ball is therefore now in the court of the Attorney General who has the duty to review the draft and present it to Cabinet as soon as possible,” Hyzler said.

The new law is expected to establish a definition of legal services that may be offered by lawyers and other professions, regulate and recognise law firms and oblige every lawyer to be a member of the Bar association – the Chamber of Advocates – which will issue a practicing certificate every year. The practicing certificate will be distinct from the Warrant or Bar exam.

An obligation for continuous professional development and basic professional indemnity insurance will be imposed on every lawyer.

A formal list of all lawyers will be drawn up and kept by the Chamber of Advocates, Hyzler said, adding it was unbelievable that this did not currently exist. 

Hyzler observed with disappointment the fact that the efficiency of courts had declined despite the introduction of measures to address this.

He praised the government for the “fitting and important” improvements to the working conditions of the judiciary and said that the time had now come for a revision of the court tariffs.

As they stood, unrevised for the past 20 years, court tariffs were causing injustices as the winning party would be unable to recover a substantial part of what they had paid their lawyer, he said.