Lawyers should not deviate from the benchmarks set by Canon 16 of the Code of Professional Responsibility which mandates that a lawyer shall hold in trust all moneys and properties of his client that may come into his possession and must immediately return the money/property when due or upon demand. Lawyers who misappropriate the funds entrusted to them are in gross violation of professional ethics and are guilty of betrayal of public confidence in the legal profession. Lawyering is not a business, it is a profession in which duty to public service, not money, is the primary consideration. Those who are guilty of such infraction may be disbarred or suspended indefinitely from the practice of law.
The Supreme Court recently disbarred a lawyer for obtaining money from a client without rendering proper legal services, and appropriating the insurance proceeds of the client's husband (A.C. No. 6246. Freeman v. Reyes, November 15, 2011).
No comments:
Post a Comment