The Legislative Yuan’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee yesterday approved the first reading of an amendment, which, if passed, would see the creation of “civil attorneys” tasked with representing government agencies or public schools in legal disputes.
The amendment to the Attorney Regulation Act (律師法) was introduced to help address an increasing need for legal consultation in government agencies and public schools, and to implement policies detailed under the government’s judicial reforms, Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) said.
The system would allow government agencies and public schools to have a greater degree of trust, rather than seeking different lawyers on a case-by-case basis, Deputy Minister of Justice Huang Mou-hsin (黃謀信) said.
Photo: Hsieh Chun-lin, Taipei Times
As the go-to legal representative of their respective agency or school, the civil attorney would be intimately familiar with the affairs of the institution they represent, Huang said.
The dual role they play — as a member of staff at the institution and as a lawyer — would enforce attorney-client privilege, Huang added.
Attorneys in the newly created position must work at a government agency or public school, and would represent the institutions at which they work in the capacity of a lawyer, observing regulations as stipulated under the Civil Servant Service Act (公務員服務法), the Attorney Regulation Act and other ethical obligations, Tsai said, adding that they should join the local or nearby bar association.
Civil attorneys are banned from registering with other law firms, the amendment says.
They must also abide by the same regulations as members of the judiciary: avoiding conflicts of interest and not serving at a court, district prosecutors’ office, government agency or public school in which they have worked in the previous three years, the amendment says.
However, such lawyers can be commissioned by agencies or institutions in which they were previously employed to serve as a lawyer in other agencies or public schools.
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