Lawyers may not kiss their friends if these friends are also clients
A remarkable verdict from a disciplinary court: a lawyer was found to have acted without the dignity proper to his profession when he kissed a friend on the cheek in greeting while representing her.
De Pers reports that the unnamed lawyer greeted the friend at a police station in 2008, where an assistant prosecutor took offence and filed charges for ‘unseemly behaviour’. Two weeks ago the Amsterdamse Raad van Discipline (Amsterdam Disciplinary Court) agreed with the assistant prosecutor.
Apart from the fact that there are gradations of familiarity, and that kissing somebody on the cheek at the police station is perhaps not the same thing as walking around a court room in bathroom slippers, there is also a whiff of sexism attached to this verdict. That is to say, I cannot remember hearing of a similar verdict regarding shaking hands, which is how most men greet each other in this country.
The lawyer has received a warning.
(Link: Martin Wisse, second day in a row! Photo by Steve Punter, some rights reserved.)
It seems like an over reaction to something so harmless.
I agree with Invader_Stu’s comment, but I guess the prosecutor has to prove he’s earning his living, too. LOL.