118 / 462
GAZETTE
W
B
MARCH1992
by E amo nn G . Ha l l, Solicitor
Barristers' Professional Conduct
Tribunal
Brief details of the new Barristers'
Professional Conduct Tribunal were
published in the March
Gazette,
in
order to update the complaints
procedure and take account of recent
judicial decisions in regard to the
procedures of professional bodies in
disciplinary matters, the Bar Council
set up the new body with lay
representation to consider complaints
against barristers, whether from
solicitors, members of the public or
others.
The Bar Council itself, through its
Professional Practices Committee,
may act as a complainant to the
Tribunal.
The new Professional Conduct
Tribunal has wide-ranging powers
and sanctions. It sets down a
procedure with time limits for
complaints to be dealt with.
Solicitors or others making
complaints against a barrister in
respect of his professional conduct,
must do so on a complaint form
which will be furnished to the
barrister against whom the allegation
has been made. The barrister will
have a period of fourteen working
days from the date of receipt by him
of the complaint to reply to it. The
complainant or barrister may request
an oral hearing, but it is a matter
for the Tribunal to decide whether to
hold such hearing or not. In the
event of a barrister refusing or
failing to provide any further
information within a time specified
by the Tribunal, the Tribunal shall
be entitled to proceed with the
hearing of the complaint in the
absence of such barrister.
The new procedure provides that the
Tribunal shall decide whether to
uphold or reject a complaint and, if
a complaint is upheld, to find
whether the barrister has been guilty
of a breach of the Code of Conduct
or of a breach of proper professional
standards. Decisions of the Tribunal
shall contain a summary of the
complaint and the reply thereto and
should also contain a summary of
the evidence considered by the
Tribunal. A decision will also set out
the findings of fact reached by the
Tribunal and the Tribunal shall also
set out the reasons why it has
reached its decision together with the
penalty, if any, to be imposed.
Under the terms of the Disciplinary
Code, the Tribunal is entitled to
make a disclosure with its decisions
or any part thereof in such manner
as it thinks fit.
The Code allows the Tribunal to
impose penalties in a case where it
has upheld a complaint that a
barrister has been guilty of conduct
constituting a breach of the Code of
Conduct or constituting a breach of
proper professional standards. These
are as follows:-
• take no action save to record the
result of the complaint;
• admonish the barrister;
• impose a fine:
• require the payment of specified
fees by the barrister, or order the
barrister to forego the payment to
him of specified fees;
• to suspend the barrister from
membership of the Law Library
and/or to remove him from the
Register of Practising Barristers
either for a specified period or
until a particular specified act has
been carried out;
• to exclude the barrister from
membership of the Law
Library;
• to remove the barrister from the
Register of Practising Barristers;
• to recommend to the Benchers of
King's Inns that the barrister
should be disbarred.
A barrister in respect of whom a
complaint has been dismissed shall
be entitled to require that the fact of
the complaint was not sustained
shall be disclosed.
The membership of the Conduct
Tribunal consists of five barristers
nominated by the Bar Council and
two non-lawyers one of whom is
nominated by the Federation of Irish
Employers and the other nominated
by the Executive Council of the Irish
Congress of TVade Unions.
The complainant or the barrister
shall be entitled to appeal any
decision of the Tribunal to a body
known as the Barristers' Professional
Conduct Appeals Board. This board
comprises three members, one of
whom is a retired Judge nominated
by the Bar Council; the second
member is a non-lawyer nominated
by the Attorney General and the
third is the Chairman for the time
being of the Bar Council.
John Dowling
98