A Lawyers Syndicate ban on council members defending lawyers before disciplinary tribunals has triggered an internal dispute over due process, conflicts of interest, and the right to choose legal counsel.
North Cairo Syndicate head Amr Mohi “categorically rejected” the decision in an Aug. 4 statement, saying it undermines guarantees of a fair hearing and unlawfully restricts lawyers’ choice of defense counsel. The syndicate says the ban is needed to prevent council members from taking conflicting positions in disciplinary cases.
The General Syndicate Council and branch syndicate heads approved the measure at a joint meeting on July 28. They also formed a disciplinary committee and authorized it to refer lawyers to disciplinary tribunals.
The ban bars all General Syndicate Council members, branch syndicate heads, and branch council members from appearing on behalf of any lawyer referred to disciplinary proceedings by the General Syndicate.
Mohi said Court of Cassation rulings have established that legal representation safeguards the right to defense and prevents abuse. Those protections are especially important when lawyers face disciplinary proceedings within their own syndicate, whose role is to defend rights and freedoms.
He said the decision limits lawyers’ ability to choose counsel they trust and undermines the fairness of disciplinary proceedings. He urged the General Syndicate Council to revoke it to protect lawyers’ rights, preserve syndicate unity, and uphold the profession’s mission and independence.
Lawyers Syndicate Assistant Secretary-General Abu Bakr Dawa told Al Manassa that the General Syndicate Council and branch syndicate heads approved the decision unanimously to address what he called “double standards and conflicting positions.”
Dawa said a General Syndicate Council member should not defend a lawyer whom the syndicate itself referred to disciplinary proceedings. Nor should a branch council member represent a lawyer whom that branch recommended for investigation, he said, because doing so creates conflicting positions within the syndicate.
The ban applies to all branch council members, regardless of the branch to which the referred lawyer belongs, Dawa said. Lawyers may still hire defense counsel, provided the lawyer is not a member of the General Syndicate Council or any branch council.
“We are one body, and General Syndicate decisions are binding on all branch syndicates,” he said.
Human rights lawyer Negad El Borai told Al Manassa that restricting members of the branch council that referred a lawyer for investigation could be justified because of a potential conflict of interest.
But he called the blanket ban on members of all branch councils “unconstitutional,” saying it restricts both a lawyer’s right to choose counsel and another lawyer’s right to accept the case.
El Borai said the Legal Profession Law does not bar members of the General Syndicate Council or branch councils from defending colleagues before disciplinary tribunals, leaving the decision without an explicit legal basis.
The dispute comes less than three weeks after the syndicate reconstituted its disciplinary committee.
Syndicate head Allam issued a decision on July 12 placing disciplinary affairs under a committee comprising three General Syndicate Council members and the heads of the Menoufiya and North Qalyoubia branch syndicates.
The move followed allegations of conduct unbecoming the profession against the former committee head. The syndicate said at the time that judicial authorities were still investigating the allegations.
