Change is afoot for legal profession. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

Lawyers will soon have a law specifically regulating their profession following draft legislation to be published over the next few weeks, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said.

Unlike other EU countries, Malta does not have a law regulating the legal profession. So far, reference to lawyers’ conduct is spread across various laws.

The Chamber of Advocates has long been lobbying to have a Lawyers’ Act and, in 2008, it published a document for consultation among its members.

A draft law – the Legal Profession (Advocates) Regulation Act – was published in Parliament in 2012 but nothing came of it due to the 2013 change in government.

Yesterday, Dr Bonnici said the draft law will be tabled over the next few weeks following discussions with the Chamber of Advocates.

He said the Lawyers’ Act would aim to ensure that lawyers were competent and had integrity by, for example, ensuring continuous professional development.

Chamber president Reuben Balzan said the new draft was based on the 2012 Bill, except for some minor changes that he would not divulge.

The 2012 Bill recognised the Chamber of Advocates as the regulator and representative body of lawyers and regulated the issuing of warrants and law firms.

It addressed lawyers’ conduct, stressing the importance of maintaining independence and integrity and working in the best interest of clients and the profession.

The Chamber of Advocates has long been lobbying fora Lawyers’ Act

Yesterday, Dr Bonnici spoke about reviewing the Code of Ethics for lawyers to cater for the use of social media. It was also time to debate the subject of advertising for lawyers, which is currently prohibited, he said.

The minister was speaking during a seminar on clinical law teaching at the Chamber of Advocates’ offices, located within the Law Courts in Valletta. Dr Bonnici said he was glad to see such close collaboration between the chamber, the ministry and the University of Malta’s Faculty of Laws, which organised the seminar.

He urged law students to consider embarking on a career with the government  this was not limited to working with the Attorney General’s office.

A range of legal services were needed in ministries, authorities and agencies.

Dr Bonnici spoke about the ongoing reform to the legal aid system, adding that it would be interesting to discuss allowing students to carry out their student practice with legal aid lawyers.

David Zammit, head of the department of Civil Law within the Faculty of Laws, said clinical law teaching started in the US and spread across the world.

This was based on the concept that students learnt best when they could practice what they learnt, under supervision.

The Faculty of Laws started embracing this idea in 2007 and already used this form of teaching. It had further plans to expand this method of teaching students, he said.