Tag: Lawyers

Long live the lawyers of Pakistan

A fascist reign of terror has been imposed by the army and police in Pakistan, over ten thousand people have been arrested and jailed on false and frivolous charges, many beaten, tortured, killed, or just ‘disappeared’. The judges, who took an oath to protect the people’s rights, have become deaf and dumb and have turned a Nelson’s eye to these horrors, and the media has largely kowtowed before the Establishment. The people are reeling before the worst economic crisis in Pakistan’s history, with record unemployment, highly inflated electricity bills, and soaring prices of food and other essential commodities.
In this situation the lawyers of Pakistan have risen to the occasion, and are fighting back, bravely leading the struggle for democracy and the rule of law.
The Pakistan lawyers have recently decided to unite, and unitedly fight against this tyranny and trampling of human rights. They have formed the All Pakistan Lawyers Convention, and held their first meeting in the Supreme Court Bar Association in Islamabad. Here are some of the speeches delivered in that meeting :

A study of history shows that lawyers have given leadership to countries which were passing through a crisis in history. Thus, in the American Revolution ( 1775-81 ) most of the American leaders were lawyers, e.g. Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, etc. The American President who led the nation during its Civil War ( 1861-65 ) was a lawyer, Abraham Lincoln.
In the great French Revolution of 1789 over half the members of the French National Assembly were lawyers e.g. Robespierre, Danton, Prieur de la Marne, Billaud Varenne, etc
The leader of the Bolsheviks in the Russian Revolution of 1917, Lenin, was a lawyer ( though he practised only for a short while ).
Most of the leaders in India’s independence struggle were lawyers.
In Pakistan, the major cause of the downfall of the dictator Gen Parvez Musharraf, were Pakistan”s lawyers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawyers%27_Movement#:~:text=The%20Lawyers’%20Movement%2C%20also%20known,2007%20when%20he%20unconstitutionally%20suspended
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jun/10/pakistan
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2007/3/13/lawyers-protest-against-musharraf
Why is it that lawyers were leaders of many countries in their hour of crisis ? That is because among all professions lawyers are closest to the people, and have society’s pulse. A doctor deals with medical problems, and an engineer with technical problems. So their knowledge of society’s problems is limited.

But a lawyer deals with legal problems, which are connected to society as a whole, and he interacts with people of all kinds and all walks of life–workers, farmers, teachers, govt servants, businessmen, people with matrimonial problems or property disputes, criminals, etc. Hence he best understands the needs and problems of society. Also, belonging to an independent profession, he does not have to kowtow before anyone. Hence he is often the best person to lead the people.
In the situation prevailing in Pakistan today, with most people living in fear, the Pakistan lawyers are the fittest to lead the people in these dark times. And they are doing their duty fearlessly, valiantly, and undauntedly
Hats off to the lawyers of Pakistan !

September 7, 2023
Trump lawyers: Notes for calls with foreign leaders are among classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago

[ad_1]

POLITICO obtained a copy of the letter sent to House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio). Tim Parlatore, one of the letter’s signatories, told POLITICO that it was also sent to House Intel Democrats and to Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee. The letter was first reported by CNN.
“Please know that despite the differences in the cases, we do not believe that any of these three matters should be handled by DOJ as a criminal case,” Trump’s lawyers wrote. “Rather, the stakeholders to these matters should set aside political differences and work together to remediate this issue and help to enhance our national security in the process.”
The letter said two of Trump’s lawyers, Parlatore and Jim Trusty, reviewed 15 boxes of documents that were taken to Mar-a-Lago after Trump left the White House and then later sent to the National Archives.
“Following its review of the materials, NARA inserted placeholder pages where it had removed documents with classification markings,” reads the letter, signed by Parlatore, Trusty, John Rowley and Lindsey Halligan. “That allowed Messrs. Parlatore and Trusty to discern what the documents were, as well as what other materials in the boxes were in the proximity of the marked documents when the White House staff packed them. The vast majority of the placeholder inserts refer to briefings for phone calls with foreign leaders that were located near the schedule for those calls.”
The appearance of documents marked classified at Mar-a-Lago, the lawyers continue, was “the result of haphazard records keeping and packing by White House staff and GSA.”
[ad_2]
#Trump #lawyers #Notes #calls #foreign #leaders #among #classified #documents #MaraLago
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 27, 2023
‘Cheese-eating rat’: Defense lawyers seethe after DOJ pushes witness to identify more Jan. 6 perpetrators

[ad_1]

Recognizing Sumrall’s prominence within the Jan. 6 community, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordan Konig pressed the witness to identify others who went into the Capitol but had not yet been charged — raising the prospect that a truthful answer might incriminate his acquaintances or associates. After initially beginning to answer the question, Sumrall appeared to grow agitated.
Alberts’ attorney Roger Roots quickly objected, prompting U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper to recess the trial and debate the issue. After jurors left the room, Cooper professed to being blindsided by the line of questioning, calling it “unorthodox” and a “fairly unique situation.” He asked prosecutors to give him a heads-up next time if they planned to go that route.
Roots fumed that the line of questioning was a bid by prosecutors to turn Sumrall into a “cheese-eating rat” and “a snitch on the stand.” He accused prosecutors of “pretending they’re the FBI” and attempting to humiliate Sumrall in front of the jury.
“This is so outrageous,” Roots said.
Konig said Sumrall’s refusal to answer the question spoke to his credibility as a defense witness — proving that he was unwilling to testify in any way that would be harmful to a Jan. 6 defendant. His “ties to the Jan. 6 community,” Konig said, are proof of his bias that jurors should be permitted to consider.
He also cited two recent criminal tax cases in which prosecutors were permitted to cross-examine witnesses. In a 2019 case in Colorado, a federal judge ordered a defendant to respond to prosecutors’ request that he identify other people who refused to pay their taxes. The same year, in a federal criminal tax case in Nevada, prosecutors asked the defendant to identify other tax scofflaws — including one who happened to be in the room at the time of the testimony.
Cooper, though, did not permit prosecutors to go as far. He said he would permit Sumrall to decline to answer the question and would not order him to name names. Prosecutors agreed this was an acceptable outcome because jurors would still see that Sumrall had refused to identify people who might be implicated in Jan. 6 wrongdoing. When the jury returned, Cooper informed them of his decision.
Alberts called Sumrall in part because Sumrall was on Capitol grounds Jan. 6 filming the events. The defense contended that Sumrall’s video showed the thin police presence as pro-Trump protesters arrived at the Capitol and ultimately surged past several layers of barricades.

During their cross-examination, prosecutors highlighted Sumrall’s extensive commentary in support of Jan. 6 defendants, his help in fundraising for the legal defense of some of the most notorious perpetrators on that day — including one of Roots’ other clients, Dominic Pezzola, who is facing seditious conspiracy charges in a trial two floors away — and his sympathy for the “cause” that Jan. 6 rioters espoused that day.
They also emphasized that Sumrall had claimed “99 percent” of Jan. 6 defendants should not have been charged.
Sumrall was the final defense witness in the case, which now heads to closing arguments and jury deliberations.
[ad_2]
#Cheeseeating #rat #Defense #lawyers #seethe #DOJ #pushes #witness #identify #Jan #perpetrators
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 18, 2023
Amritpal case: SGPC lawyers meet 8 people in Assam’s jail

[ad_1]
Amritsar: Lawyers of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee on Monday met the eight people detained in Assam’s Dibrugarh jail under the stringent National Security Act after they were nabbed following a crackdown by Punjab Police against radical preacher Amritpal Singh and his aides.
The SGPC is pursuing cases of the eight people who have been detained under the NSA.
SGPC member and senior advocate Bhagwant Singh Sialka led the delegation, including advocates Mandeep Singh Sidhu and Rohit Sharma, to Assam.

SGPC chief Harjinder Singh Dhami said following the order of the Jathedar of Akal Takht, the cases of youths imprisoned under the NSA at Dibrugarh are being pursued.
He said SGPC’s legal experts have started their work after visiting the ground.
He informed that legal aid is being provided to the eight people detained at Dibrugarh.
He further said the legal team has prepared a further course of action after meeting the arrested youths and officials of the Dibrugarh jail administration.
Sialka said the District Legal Services Authority and Dibrugarh Bar Association along with local lawyers have supported the SGPC legal team in submitting an application to the Dibrugarh jail administration to meet the eight detained youths.

Advocate Mandeep Singh said the detention orders of the youths and other necessary documents have been provided to the SGPC legal team by jail administration, following which further legal proceedings will be continued.
The Punjab Police had sent eight persons, including Daljeet Kalsi and Basant Singh, to the Dibrugarh jail after charging them under the NSA following a crackdown against preacher Amritpal and his aides.
The Jathedar of Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikhs, had recently asked the state government to revoke the detention of some persons under the NSA and demanded that those who have been sent to Dibrugarh jail in Assam should be brought back to Punjab so that law can take its own course.
[ad_2]
#Amritpal #case #SGPC #lawyers #meet #people #Assams #jail
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 11, 2023
Atiq conviction: Judge, lawyers & ex-minister get additional security

[ad_1]
Prayagraj: The Uttar Pradesh government has increased the security of special judge Dinesh Chandra Shukla, former minister Sidharth Nath Singh and Umesh Pal’s lawyers in Prayagraj.
This comes two days after an MP /MLA court sentenced gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and two aides to life imprisonment in the Umesh Pal abduction case.
Police teams have been deployed outside the homes of Umesh Pal’s lawyers, senior police officials confirmed.
Former UP Minister Siddharth Nath Singh, a second-term MLA from Atiq’s former stronghold of Allahabad West seat, has also been given additional security.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Siddharth Nath Singh had performed ‘bhoomi pujan’ on December 26, 2021 for construction of flats for the poor on prime land freed from Atiq Ahmed’s illegal possession at Lukerganj in Prayagraj.
The Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) is constructing the flats.
Subscribe us on

[ad_2]
#Atiq #conviction #Judge #lawyers #exminister #additional #security
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 31, 2023
CJI intervenes to end month-long protest of MP lawyers against HC order

[ad_1]
Bhopal: The continuous abstention of advocates from all three benches of the Madhya Pradesh High Court to oppose its order for disposing 25 pending cases in three months has hit legal proceedings across the state and promoted Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud to intervene in the matter.
The CJI has taken cognisance of the matter and has called representatives of State Bar Council of Madhya Pradesh for a meeting on March 29.
State Bar Council Chairman Prem Singh Bhadoria, before leaving for New Delhi to meet the CJI, issued a notice appealing to advocates to resume work from Wednesday onward.
“The CJI has taken cognisance of the matter and has called for a discussion on March 29. With the hope of fruitful discussion, the ongoing protest is called off. State Bar Council of Madhya Pradesh appeals to all practicing lawyers to start appearing in the courts from Wednesday onward,” the notice read.
Senior advocate and Bhopal District Bar Association President P.C. Kothari told IANS that a delegation from the State Bar Council has left for New Delhi and representatives of the High Court will also be there in the meeting.
Madhya Pradesh’s Chief Justice R.V. Malimath had issued an order in December last year asking judges to dispose of at least 25 cases pending for years in three months. Demanding withdrawal of the order, lawyers practicing in all district and High Court benches had started abstaining from appearing in the courtrooms.
Subscribe us on

[ad_2]
#CJI #intervenes #monthlong #protest #lawyers #order
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 28, 2023
SCBA seeks time from CJI to discuss issues of lawyers’ chambers, elevation

[ad_1]
New Delhi: The President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), Vikas Singh, has written to Chief Justice of India, D.Y. Chandrachud, seeking a meeting with the executive committee to discuss matters pertaining to the conversion of 1.33 acres of land allotted to the court by the Union government.
The letter written on behalf of SCBA urged to immediately start work on the 1.33 acres of land by constructing maximum number of chambers for lawyers.
It sought space for SCBA in the annexe building opposite Court No. 12 for the office of its president and secretary, meeting room for the executive committee, proper lunch room, additional ladies’ bar room, and additional library or lounge.
It also demanded a bigger space for creche for working lawyers.
The letter also stated that SCBA wants elevation of Supreme Court lawyers to various high courts, and expeditious and regular designation of apex court lawyers.
The Supreme Court had held that it could not consider the judicial side of SCBA’s plea to convert the entire 1.33 acres land allotted to it by the Central government as space for lawyers’ chambers, an had left the issue open to be considered on the administrative side.
Subscribe us on

[ad_2]
#SCBA #seeks #time #CJI #discuss #issues #lawyers #chambers #elevation
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 25, 2023
Court rejects Trump’s urgent bid to keep lawyer’s records from special counsel

[ad_1]

After setting middle-of-the-night deadlines for filings in the dispute, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday afternoon declined Trump’s request for a stay of Howell’s ruling, ordering attorney Evan Corcoran to provide records to a Washington-based grand jury assigned to the special counsel’s probe.
The appeals court’s full order was not released, so it was not immediately clear whether Corcoran would be required to testify in addition to providing documents. But a summary of the D.C. Circuit’s order indicated that prosecutors had prevailed and that stay requests from the Trump camp were denied.
It’s also unclear whether the panel provided any time for Trump to challenge the decision before the full bench of the appeals court or to seek relief from the Supreme Court.
Howell ruled on Friday that Trump’s attorney-client privilege had to yield to the grand jury’s need for Corcoran’s testimony and records, given evidence that the attorney had been used to advance a crime. Smith’s probe is exploring potential obstruction of justice of the classified-documents investigation, as well as illegal retention of classified information and theft of government records, according to court filings.
The appeals court’s order on Wednesday — from Judges Cornelia Pillard, J. Michelle Childs and Florence Pan — didn’t identify Corcoran or the case at issue but made clear that the government was on the winning side of the case in Howell’s court and in the appeals court’s new ruling.
Pillard is an appointee of President Barack Obama as is Howell, the District Court judge who ruled in the dispute. Childs and Pan are appointees of President Joe Biden.
Spokespeople for Trump, his campaign and Smith did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday on the appeals court’s decision.
“Prosecutors only attack lawyers when they have no case whatsoever,” Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign said in a statement on Tuesday night that also assailed what it called “illegal” leaks about the closed-door court fight. “These leaks are happening because there is no factual or legal basis or substance to any case against President Trump.”

In an order on Tuesday night, the three-judge appeals panel granted a short-term “administrative” stay and also asked Trump’s attorneys to specify the precise set of documents at issue by midnight and for Smith’s team to respond by 6 a.m. Wednesday to the Trump team’s demand for a longer stay of Howell’s ruling.
Howell’s secret order on Friday required Corcoran to testify about matters he and Trump had claimed were subject to attorney-client privilege. Her order relied on the “crime-fraud exception,” which permits investigators to pursue evidence that would ordinarily be privileged but contains evidence of likely criminal conduct.
As chief judge, Howell supervised all disputes arising from grand jury proceedings happening in Washington. That responsibility passed on Friday to U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg, who succeeded Howell as chief, but only after Howell issued the potentially momentous privilege ruling in the Trump-related legal fight.
Proceedings related to the classified-documents grand jury, including efforts by prosecutors to compel Corcoran’s testimony, are occurring under seal — typical for nearly all grand jury proceedings.
However, the appeals court’s docket provides bare-bones details about the case, identifying when the lower-court battle began — Feb. 7 — and confirming that it stems from a grand-jury-related ruling Howell issued on Friday.
The grand jury probe of Trump, helmed by Smith, is an outgrowth of a monthslong battle between the National Archives and Trump to obtain hundreds of government records stashed at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after leaving office. Trump’s aides returned 15 boxes of records in January 2022, including some that bore classification markings. As a result, the Archives brought in the Justice Department to pursue whether Trump had retained additional classified material.
In May 2022, the Justice Department subpoenaed Trump’s office, demanding the production of any other classified materials he might possess at Mar-a-Lago. Justice Department officials traveled in early June to Mar-a-Lago, where they briefly interacted with Trump and picked up a folder of records deemed classified. Trump’s team then certified that they had thoroughly searched the premises and turned over remaining classified documents.
But the department developed evidence suggesting that this wasn’t the case, leading to an Aug. 8, 2022, FBI search of the property, where dozens of additional documents with classification markings were discovered.
Corcoran, who was Trump’s primary point of contact with the Archives and the Justice Department, has faced scrutiny for his involvement in efforts to certify that Trump had returned all potentially classified materials.
The legal maneuvering in Washington comes as Trump’s lawyers are also awaiting a potential indictment of their client in an unrelated case in New York, an investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg into details of a hush money payment made in 2016 to the porn actress Stormy Daniels

[ad_2]
#Court #rejects #Trumps #urgent #bid #lawyers #records #special #counsel
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 23, 2023
Law Minister Kiren Rijiju urges lawyers to join Tele Law programme, provide legal aid

[ad_1]
Bengaluru: Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju on Sunday appealed to lawyers to join the Tele Law programme and support judges in creating legal awareness.
At an event organised by the Karnataka BJP legal cell, Rijiju underlined the role played by lawyers in facilitating justice for people, and appealed to them to provide legal aid to help people get justice.
“The Karnataka Legal fraternity is ready for the battle,” the Union Law Minister said, adding, “I also appeal to lawyers to join the Tele Law programme and support the judges in creating legal awareness and to provide legal aid through NALSA (national), SALSA (state)) and District Legal Services Authorities to deliver justice at the doorstep of people.”
Lauding the Karnataka BJP legal cell, Rijiju said that it, like the entire legal fraternity, had been working hard to ensure that the “development works initiated for Karnataka by Prime Minister Narendra Modi would continue uninterrupted with the double engine government at the Centre as well as in the State”.
The Minister later met Karnataka Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot, Union Minister of Education, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan and Minister of Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya at Kempegowda International Airport.
Rijiju, who hails from the Northeast also interacted with students and people from the North East who live in Bengaluru.
Subscribe us on

[ad_2]
#Law #Minister #Kiren #Rijiju #urges #lawyers #join #Tele #Law #programme #provide #legal #aid
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 19, 2023
European lawyers challenged the ban on working with Russian companies

[ad_1]
European lawyers challenged the ban on providing services to companies from Russia
European lawyers challenged in the Court of Justice of the European Union (EU) a ban on providing legal services to companies from Russia. This follows from a document published on Monday in the Official Journal of the EU. Data leads RIA News.
A lawsuit against the Council of the European Union was filed by the Association of French Bar Unions ACE-Avocats. It says that such measures are contrary to the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, as well as some decisions of the EU Court of Justice, confirming that lawyers should be able to carry out their work without hindrance.
On October 6 last year, as part of another package of sanctions, the EU Council imposed a ban on the provision of legal services to the Russian government, as well as companies registered in Russia. However, exceptions are allowed, which must be approved by the authorities of a particular EU country.
Earlier, the EU disclosed the amount of frozen Russian assets: 21.5 billion euros – they belonged to organizations and individuals from Russia. This was announced by the European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders.
#European #lawyers #challenged #ban #working #Russian #companies
[ad_2]
#European #lawyers #challenged #ban #working #Russian #companies
( With inputs from : pledgetimes.com )

February 28, 2023