Firms 'too powerful' for bar associations

Top law firms may be becoming 'so powerful that Bar associations are reluctant to step in when codes of professional conduct are pushed beyond the limits of traditional acceptability', a meeting of leading world lawyers was told last week.Heinz Weil, a former president of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), told the International Bar Association's (IBA) annual council meeting in Versailles that his fear was fuelled by the surge of international mergers.

The Council was debating 'professionalism against commercialism'.Another former CCBE president, Ramon Mullerat, told the council: 'Pursuit of commercialism in the sense of excessive and a perhaps inappropriate emphasis on profit without regard to professionalism is not in the interests of clients.'Leading US legal management consultant Ward Bower conceded that 'league tables of law firms' financial performance had not been helpful'.

But he argued that financial weakness could act as a greater temptation to behave unprofessionally, 'for example by accepting clients' instructions on matters for which the firm lacked the necessary expertise'.Speaking to the Gazette after the debate, IBA president Klaus Bhlhoff said a poor lawyer was more of a danger to society than one making a good living.

However, he said the council had agreed that when there was a conflict between professionalism and the commercial success of a firm, 'professional and ethical standards should always prevail'.The IBA will vote on a final form of its resolution at its biennial conference in Amsterdam this September.

Neil Rose