The legal profession is mainly governed by the Law on the Legal Profession in the Republic of Albania (9109/2003), which, after some slight amendments introduced by Law 9975/2007, has been further amended by a recent legislative initiative contained in Law 10047/2008.

The legal profession is an independent and self-managed profession which is governed and supervised by the National Chamber of Attorneys, an independent body. The national chamber operates in accordance with its own regulation and is composed of local chambers established in every main administrative unit of the territory by lawyers or law offices.

The implementation of the 2003 law began a new phase in the regulation of the legal profession in Albania. It was intended to meet the requirements of new standards and trends in business development by introducing a new way of organizing legal practice and enhancing the independence and professionalism of practitioners.

The first amendments to the law were introduced in 2007 with the intention to regulate the relationship between legal practice and tax legislation. The amendments mainly focused on practitioners' duty (whether practising individually or in law offices) to register with the tax authorities and hold a tax identification number as a condition for the initiation of activities.

After a year some substantive changes were introduced by a new amending law; these amendments changed the rules of disciplinary procedures undertaken by the national chamber over its members. Article 37 was amended to change the competent body entitled to deal with claims of infringement addressed to legal practitioners. While the provisions on the right to submit a claim against a lawyer remain unchanged,(1) the body entitled to assess and decide on such claims is no longer the local chamber. After receiving the claim, the chairman of the local chamber shall forward it to the commission (a permanent internal organ of the national chamber) for verification within five calendar days of receipt (Article 37 as amended).

Internal disciplinary procedures are now initiated not only for breach of the legal code of ethics or other rules established by the national chamber, but also for breach of tax legislation, as provided by the new amendment introduced by Article 38.

After the commission has received the claim from the local chamber for verification, it appoints a sub-committee which assesses the details of the claim (Article 39, as amended). The proceedings consist of three phases (verification, refusal or acceptance of the claim and judgment), and should take no longer than 60 days from the date on which the commission receives the claim. In cases where the sub-committee believes that the claim is well founded, the process continues to the judgment phase and the commission will present the claim to the disciplinary commission of the national chamber. The chairman of the commission will participate in the hearing before the disciplinary commission (Article 40, as amended, Articles 40/1 and 40/2).

The disciplinary commission should decide on the claim within 30 days of the date on which it was registered. The disciplinary commission may postpone the judgment, upon request of a party to the proceedings on reasonable grounds, but for no longer than 30 days. The decision of the disciplinary commission may be appealed within 15 days to a competent court by either party to the proceedings (Article 45 as amended).

The disciplinary measures aim to ensure the right of information, the right of transparency and the right to be heard and defended. The disciplinary measures must be issued within three months of the date on which infringement was ascertained, and no longer than five years after its occurrence (Article 41, as amended).

For further information please contact Renata Leka at Boga & Associates by telephone (+355 42 251 050) or by fax (+355 42 251 055) or by email (rleka@bogalaw.com).

Endnotes

(1) A claim may be initiated by:

• a client of the lawyer;
• a third party claiming damages for the lawyer's actions;
• the executive bodies of the local chambers;
• judges;
• prosecutors;
• the minister of justice; and
• other state entities entitled by law to submit a claim.

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