Lawyers’ absence for strikes is professional dishonesty: LHC

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has observed that lawyers can’t simply remain absent from the courts under the pretext of strikes.

The court observed that if a lawyer can’t come to court after taking fee, then he commits professional dishonesty and the client can proceed against the lawyer for his loss. The observations were made by the court in a judgement on a case questioning the strikes of the lawyers.

The judgment said lawyers can’t justify their absence from courts for strikes. It said if a lawyer has submitted the power of attorney on behalf of his client then he has no right to stay absent from court by justifying the strikes of any bar association because it’s professional dishonesty, and the client can take legal action against him for the loss.

The judgment said no strikes should cause the court proceedings to suffer every other day since courts can’t function without lawyers. It expressed concerns that the court orders mentioned frequent absence of lawyers because of bar strikes.

The judgment said lawyers should come to courts for the sake of clients who had paid them, and courts should function even if lawyers don’t come to courts. The order said it was high time the courts should cut down the huge number of pending cases. It said the courts could neither become silent spectators to any illegality nor close eyes on the violations of law.