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Ethics For Private Practitioners in Tanzania

The presentation outlines the current framework of ethics for advocates in Tanzania. It discusses global and domestic ethical guidelines, including recent proposed amendments. It also addresses common ethical challenges advocates face in their work, such as dealing with clients' objectives and certain types of clients. The conclusion emphasizes that advocates should inculcate ethical behavior not just to avoid punishment but because legal practice is a profession with values of justice and ethics.

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Frank Mchomvu
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150 views22 pages

Ethics For Private Practitioners in Tanzania

The presentation outlines the current framework of ethics for advocates in Tanzania. It discusses global and domestic ethical guidelines, including recent proposed amendments. It also addresses common ethical challenges advocates face in their work, such as dealing with clients' objectives and certain types of clients. The conclusion emphasizes that advocates should inculcate ethical behavior not just to avoid punishment but because legal practice is a profession with values of justice and ethics.

Uploaded by

Frank Mchomvu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 22

‘ADVOCATES PROFESSIONAL ETHICS:

REVISITING THE CURRENT FRAMEWORK’


CLE SEMINAR
Mbeya, 26th March, 2021

ADVOCATE FRANK MCHOMVU (PHD)


PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Introduction (Meaning, nature, why ethics?)
 Framework of ethics for advocates
Recent developments
Ethical Challenges for advocates
Conclusion
INTRODUCTION

Ethics:
‘the study of what is morally right and
wrong, or a set of beliefs about what is
morally right and wrong.’
(https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictiona
ry/english/ethics)
INTRO. CONT…

‘Professional ethics is concerned with


the values appropriate to certain kinds
of occupational activity, such as
medicine and law,…’ (https://www.rep.
routledge.com/articles/thematic/
professional-ethics/v-1)
INTRO. CONT…

professional ethics articulates a


set of ethical principles that
systematically resolves the moral
problems professionals face.
INTRO. CONT…

Failure to master professional skills


signifies a failure to be a professional
INTRO CONT…

Nature of ethics:
Ethics are different from religion
They apply to everyone irrespective of their
religion (common rules)
 Ethics are pervasive in nature
Unlike criminal law, ethics need not be codified
INTRO CONT…

Why legal ethics?


‘Some lawyers treat ethics as a necessary evil,
endured as a course in law school but quickly put
aside in the daily practice of law. Other lawyers
conveniently invoke ethics to buttress their image
and prove that lawyers are more than "hired
guns." Ethics should neither exist as an incidental
adjunct to the curriculum nor as mere rhetoric
used to improve a lawyer's image. Rather, ethics
should function as the core of a lawyer's practice.
Without ethics, true professionalism and good
lawyering escape us.’
Source: Frederick A. Elliston, ‘Ethics,
Professionalism and the Practice of Law,’ Loyola
University Chicago Law Journal, Vol. 16, No. 3,
1985

Must one be a good person (in the


ordinary moral sense) in order to be a
good lawyer?
LEGAL FRAMEWORK
Global:
 UN Basic Principles on the
Role of Lawyers; Adopted by the
Eighth United Nations Congress
on the Prevention of Crime and
the Treatment of Offenders,
Havana, Cuba, 27 August to 7
September 1990
FRAMEWORK CONT…

 CORE PRINCIPLES OF THE LEGAL


PROFESSION; Resolution ratified by
the Union Internationale de Avocats
(UIA) (International Association of
Lawyers) on Tuesday October 30,
2018, during the General Assembly in
Porto
FRAMEWORK CONT…
Note: UIA is a global organization for the
legal profession with members in more than
100 countries in the world. It was established
in 1927 for purposes of inter alia promoting
rule of law stimulating professional
development. (More info:
https://www.uianet.org/en/about-us).
FRAMEWORK CONT…

International Principles on
Conduct for the Legal
Profession: Adopted on 28 May
2011 by IBA.
DOMESTIC FRAMEWORK
 The TLS Act
 Establishes the TLS
 Among the objects of TLS are; ‘to
maintain and improve the standards of
conduct and learning of the legal
profession in Tanzania’ (S. 4(a)
 The Advocates Act
DOMESTIC CONT…
 Governs the practice of law in the country;
For example:
 Governs admission and enrolment into the Bar
(S. 8)
 Provides for qualifications for practicing (S.
39)
 Rights of practicing advocate (S. 40)
 Prohibits touting (S. 47)
 Prohibits inducement of clients to abandon
their advocates (S. 49)
DOMESTIC CONT..

 Establishes mechanisms for disciplining


advocates, namely
 The CJ
 Judge/the HC
 Advocates Committee (See S. 22).
Challenges with the current mechanism?
DOMESTIC CONT…
 The Advocates (Professional
Conduct and Etiquette)
Regulations, 2018 (GN No. 118,
published on 09/03/2018).
 Advocate Rem Order, 2015
 Other relevant rules/regulations
etc.
DOMESTIC CONT…
 The Regulations enshrine comprehensive
principles and standards binding all advocates in
Tz
 Has 146 provisions most of them being on
ethical principles and standards
 Contains provisions on enforcement and
sanctions (Regs. 142 & 143)
 Prescribes advocates proper attire (Regs. 145 &
146)
 TLS Etiquette Regulations?
RECENT DEVELOPMENT

The 2021 Proposed Amendment and


their implication to practising advocates
ETHICAL CHALLENGES
 Legal practitioners are sometimes confronted
with moral issues (ethical dilemmas) whose
solutions may not be easily found from
existing framework
 How do we approach cases; clients and their
objectives
 Which actions do we chose to pursue our
clients objectives?
 How do we deal with certain types of clients?
eg; prostitutes, gay people, drug dealers etc?
 What about those who admit to have
committed offences?
CONCLUSION
 Generally, the current legal framework
relating to ethics for private practitioners
is fairly comprehensive
 Existing disp. mechanisms need to be
revisited
 Advocates need not be ethical on the fear
of punishments
 Advocates should inculcate ethical
behaviour in them
CONC. CONT…

‘…legal practice is not just a business. It is a


profession with values, ethics, professional
responsibility, and, one that calls for those who
practice it to be committed to the observance of the
highest ideals of justice and ethical conduct.’ Dr.
Nangela, J. in
Afriq Engineering & Construction Co. LTD Vs.
The Registered Trustees of The Diocese of Central
Tanganyika, Misc. Commercial Cause N0.4 Of
2020, HCT Commercial Division at DSM.

22

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