Survey finds most lawyers cowed by bar association

Most Lebanese lawyers fear their own bar association, according to the results of a recent survey conducted by Information International, an independent, Beirut-based research and consultancy firm. The survey, commissioned by the Centre for Democracy and the Rule of Law and published on 20 June, indicated that 96 percent of lawyers “believe that one of the basic tasks of the bar association is to defend freedom of expression and other human rights”. The report went on to note, however, that “a high percentage of lawyers polled are fearful that their exercise of this right may bring retaliation by their own bar association”. The survey interviewed 729 lawyers at the Beirut Court of Justice and at six other major courthouses throughout the country. Responding to the survey’s findings, Beirut Bar Association (BBA) President Boutros Doumit denied that lawyers were subject to intimidation. “Freedom of speech is, and always will be, protected by law,” said Doumit. “The BBA defends rights and freedoms, so talk of lawyers being terrified isn’t true at all.” However, observers point to the case of prominent human rights attorney Dr Muhamad Mugraby, currently facing charges of slandering the Bar Association Council and its president in 2002 by criticising “the hastiness with which permission was granted for the prosecution of an attorney in a complaint brought by judges”. Mugraby also faces charges of practicing the legal profession despite a disciplinary decision banning him from the practice. Doumit staunchly defended the association, however, noting that the BBA was devoted to “defending lawyers against abuse by the judiciary branch or by anyone else”. Doumit added that the BBA “doesn’t allow the judiciary to prosecute lawyers unless the complaint passes through us first, thereby safeguarding the lawyer from any abusive acts beforehand”. Doumit conceded, though, that the association also forbids lawyers from exceeding acceptable limits when exercising their rights and freedoms. A lawyer, for example, “isn’t allowed to talk freely about matters related to a secret investigation or an ongoing trial”, Doumit pointed out. LH/AR/AM