SEREMBAN: A senior lawyer is seeking an injunction to restrain the Bar
Council from initiating or commencing any disciplinary proceedings against him
for not complying with a Bar Council notice that, he says, would make him breach
client confidentiality.
Seah Choon Chye also wants a declaration that the notice under the Solicitors’
Remuneration (Enforcement) Rules (SRER) 2004 is bad in law and unenforceable as
it compels him to disclose confidential communication made to him by or on
behalf of his clients.
He has named the Bar Council, Attorney-General and Negri Sembilan Bar Committee
as the defendants in the summons filed in the High Court here yesterday.
Seah, who has been a lawyer since 1967, said the Bar Council notice on July 7,
2005, asked him to disclose instructions, dealings, transactions between a
solicitor and his client, which impinges on the right to legal confidentiality.
“Without my clients’ consent, I have no authority or power to disclose or
divulge information or particulars of documents relating to the transactions to
any other person.
“Breach of my duty of confidentiality to my clients exposes me to the
possibility of legal suits against me by my clients,” he said in a supporting
affidavit.
He said he had written to the Bar Council last December that any rule relating
to professional practice, etiquette, conduct and discipline of lawyers made by
them was subject to the approval of the Attorney-General and should not come
into operation until it had been gazetted.
“But on Jan 29, the Bar Council gave me 14 days to comply with the notice,
failing which disciplinary proceedings against me under the Legal Profession Act
1976 would be initiated,” Seah said.
He said there were no complaints that he had breached the SRER.
Seah is also seeking declarations that the Legal Profession Act 1976 does not
empower the Bar Council to take action or make rules to ascertain whether the
SRER is being complied with, and that the Bar Council does not have the power to
make rules affecting the professional conduct of lawyers.
DECLARE YOUR STAND, NEGRI SEMBILAN BAR LEADER! written by Stephen Tan Ban Cheng,
Saturday, April 07 2007 02:39 pm
This suit comes as a mild surprise to me, coming as it does from the Negri Sembilan Bar which produced a Tony Woon. Can I take it that it is almost the same as the suit of Encik Abdul Razak for whom Mr Louis Van Buerle of Penang is acting.
The Malaysian Bar, at its general meeting years ago, has called for the enforcement of the No-discount rule. In the name of fellowship at the Bar, all lawyers must comply with the enforcement. The confidentiality argument cannot be sustained since we just have to rub out the names of the clients concerned and all other data that may not be required.
With respect, the senior lawyer knows this, or ought to know this. So why is he still arguing the point? To flaunt the fact that he has broken faith with all other lawyers at the annual general meeting? In the first place, was he at the meeting at all? It is for all lawyers to keep the faith with the general body and not stymie our self-regulating body with suit after stupid suit sustained on spurious stilts!
Two other questions immediately surface in my mind:
(1) Has the Plaintiff served on the Malaysian Bar Council and the Attorney-General's Chambers. If not, it has become a recent practice - an unhealthy practice - of giving the Press the Court documents first before serving the sealed copy on the Malaysian Bar Council and/or other defendants such as the Attorney-General.
Can someone tell me whether any of the Etiquette Rules been breached? If so, it has been breached by a lawyer who has been in practice for nearly 40 years.
(2) Why must the senior lawyer name the Negri Sembilan Bar Committee when it is not a body corporate under the Legal Profession Act? Is this a tactical move because the Negri Sembilan Bar Committee is supporting it? Or is the Negri Sembilan Bar supporting the suit? If so, it has done a grave injustice to my learned friend, Mr Tony Woon, who hails from the Negri Sembilan Bar!
I call upon the leader of the Negri Sembilan Bar to come out in the open and declare its stand openly.
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This suit comes as a mild surprise to me, coming as it does from the Negri Sembilan Bar which produced a Tony Woon. Can I take it that it is almost the same as the suit of Encik Abdul Razak for whom Mr Louis Van Buerle of Penang is acting.
The Malaysian Bar, at its general meeting years ago, has called for the enforcement of the No-discount rule. In the name of fellowship at the Bar, all lawyers must comply with the enforcement. The confidentiality argument cannot be sustained since we just have to rub out the names of the clients concerned and all other data that may not be required.
With respect, the senior lawyer knows this, or ought to know this. So why is he still arguing the point? To flaunt the fact that he has broken faith with all other lawyers at the annual general meeting? In the first place, was he at the meeting at all? It is for all lawyers to keep the faith with the general body and not stymie our self-regulating body with suit after stupid suit sustained on spurious stilts!
Two other questions immediately surface in my mind:
(1) Has the Plaintiff served on the Malaysian Bar Council and the Attorney-General's Chambers. If not, it has become a recent practice - an unhealthy practice - of giving the Press the Court documents first before serving the sealed copy on the Malaysian Bar Council and/or other defendants such as the Attorney-General.
Can someone tell me whether any of the Etiquette Rules been breached? If so, it has been breached by a lawyer who has been in practice for nearly 40 years.
(2) Why must the senior lawyer name the Negri Sembilan Bar Committee when it is not a body corporate under the Legal Profession Act? Is this a tactical move because the Negri Sembilan Bar Committee is supporting it? Or is the Negri Sembilan Bar supporting the suit? If so, it has done a grave injustice to my learned friend, Mr Tony Woon, who hails from the Negri Sembilan Bar!
I call upon the leader of the Negri Sembilan Bar to come out in the open and declare its stand openly.