First Paragraph
The legal profession, organised as an independent body devoted to advocacy, has for a very long-time resisted to be qualified "professionals of the practice of law engaged in tradable services." Lawyers have refused to see their know-how, expertise, learned opinions assimilated to a commercial commodity to which no different rules would apply than those imposed by national and international authorities on all realms of trade and industry. Lawyers must uphold the rule of law, they participate in the administration of justice, they act as gardians of the legal public order, they intercede for the humble against the powerful, they are the pillars of democracy, the protection against tyrants.
Recommended Citation
Carl Bevernage, Presented by the Council of the Bars and Law Societies of the European Community, 18 Penn St. Int'l L. Rev. 89 (1999).