Best Lawyer or Best Law Firm
Best lawyer or the best law firm is a self-praising term used in online portals of lawyers while promoting one law firm and advertising oneself as a lawyer. The terms have been used by a lot of lawyers on their web sites and other social media for soliciting professional employment by advertising themselves as best lawyer or best law firm. As per Rule No. 135, Canons of Professional Conduct and Etiquette of Advocates described in Chapter XII of Pakistan Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Rules, 1976 is stated as follows:
“An advocate shall not solicit professional employment by advertisement or by any other means. This clause shall not be construed as prohibiting the publication or use of ordinary professional cards, name plates or conventional listing in directories, so long as the information contained therein is limited to professional and academic qualifications, and public offices currently held, and does not contain any matter which savours of personal advertisement.”
The self-praising terms ‘Best Law Firm’ or ‘Best Lawyer’ or other advertisements used by lawyers to the effect that they have h andpicked best/top/expert lawyers or advocates in the country constitute an advertisement/solicitation of work, which is against the cannons of ethics laid down in Pakistan Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Rules, 1976. The matter is exploitation of noble legal profession for vested financial interest by certain lawyers which marred the nobility of the profession.
The issue is going unnoticed in Pakistan however a similar related issue has been taken up in India when Shri Yash Bhardwaj a practicing Advocate filed a writ petition before Agra High Court raising his voice against the commercial exploitation of the noble legal profession for financial interest. The petitioner contended that these portals are publishing advertisement showing that they have picked the best lawyers in the country which is in violation of Rules 36 and 37 of the St andards of Professional Conduct and Etiquette framed under Bar Council of Indian Rules. The Bench of Justice Devendra Kumar Arora and Rajan Roy have issued notice to the private respondents and has proposed the opposite parties in the meantime to adhere to the Rules of the Bar Council of India on the subject in letter and spirit and any deviation therefrom would invite legal consequences.
