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Tuesday, November 01, 2005
A lawyer should take care not to weaken or destroy public confidence in legal institutions or authorities by irresponsible allegations.
Taken from The Law Society of Upper Canada's Regulations for Professional Conduct, section 4.06 (1) - Something Warren Kinsella might want to keep in mind while accusing a Judge of "flagrant bias" and setting up the Gomery Commission as some sort of class warfare:
judicial institutions will not function effectively unless they command the respect of the public, and, because of changes in human affairs and imperfections in human institutions, constant efforts must be made to improve the administration of justice and thereby maintain public respect for it.
Criticizing Tribunals - Although proceedings and decisions of courts and tribunals are properly subject to scrutiny and criticism by all members of the public, including lawyers, judges and members of tribunals are often prohibited by law or custom from defending themselves. Their inability to do so imposes special responsibilities upon lawyers. First, a lawyer should avoid criticism that is petty, intemperate, or unsupported by a bona fide belief in its real merit, bearing in mind that in the eyes of the public, professional knowledge lends weight to the lawyer's judgments or criticism.
There's plenty more that applies. I wouldn't be surprised if he's already been gently reminded before; he's long since given up the derisions on Gomery's name, or putting his title of Justice in quotes. All I'm asking is that he not fight this by attacking the other lawyers' and the Judge's credibility, because the last thing Canada needs is to become cynical about our Judges as well as our politicians.
Posted by CharLeBois on November 1, 2005 in Weblogs | Permalink
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Comments
Now that's a hoot, where do you start? Anyone got a good lawyer joke.
Posted by: AsISeeIt | 2005-11-01 1:30:55 PM
Considering that for more than a decade the government has named judges based upon service rendered to the Liberal party, rather than whether or not they were the best for the job, I think their credibility has already been weakend (most especially in Quebec). The Liberals have succeeded in casting doubt upon the entire federal governmental order.
Posted by: MSYB | 2005-11-01 3:30:30 PM
CharLebois: you're kidding right ?
how about the judge in B.C. who gave the murderer(woman) house arrest for killing her lover. the list goes on and on...lawyers and judges...a bunch of dolts ! But, not to generalize, as I'm sure there's a good one somewhere...
Posted by: MarkAlta | 2005-11-01 4:14:25 PM
Lawyer walks into court with his hands in his pockets.
Cop: "That's the first time I've seen a lawyer with his hands in his OWN pockets."
Posted by: Jack | 2005-11-01 4:21:11 PM
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