Tengku Maimun: Legal fraternity must uphold ethics to safeguard justice

SHAH ALAM: Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat calls on the legal fraternity to adhere to their code of conduct and avoid besmirching the justice system for more favourable goals.

“The beauty and challenge of the profession lie in the fact that both facts and law are almost always subject to interpretation,” she said in her opening address at the 2024 Selangor Bar Law Conference on Friday (Sept 6).

This makes advocacy a crucial tool for navigating the nuanced grey areas to achieve a fair and legally sound decision, she added.

In this context, the Chief Judge stated that every legal practitioner has a fundamental ethical obligation to the court, their clients, and the public.

Therefore, she said, striving to win a single case at the expense of the law could pose dangerous consequences for the development of legal principles.

“It is enough for me to say that arguably the most important of all is the advocate’s duties to the court. I take the position that if an advocate prioritises these duties as the foremost of their duties, their duties to their clients and the public should in an ordinary case be met.

“This means citing cases with a proper understanding of the law, not intentionally misleading the court with overruled propositions, and fully and frankly disclosing all the relevant facts including facts unfavourable to his client,” she said.

She also referenced two precedents, Ang Ming Lee and CCH, a constitutional challenge involving a child who was denied citizenship by the National Registration Department, to illustrate the extremes to which advocates can lose sight of a case.

“The former case (Ang Ming Lee) represents an internal victory for the litigants but the outcome of the decision detrimentally affected an entire industry.

“Perhaps this could have been overcome if parties were minded to guide the court on the doctrine of prospective overruling.

“The case is an example of short-sightedness in advocacy and the duties (required) of an advocate.

“On the other hand, CCH represents long-sightedness. Here, justice for the litigant appeared to have been missed. After all, as noted in CCH, the right to citizenship is so inextricably linked to the right to life and personal liberty.

“In public litigation, ‘test cases’ are normal and often welcome but one must not sacrifice the litigant for the greater good,” she said.

Tengku Maimun also reiterated her advice to practising lawyers to consider all aspects of a case in upholding their duties to the court and clients for effective advocacy, thus allowing the court to fully dispense justice. – Bernama