Criminal liability of lawyers for corruption offences
ENThe goal of this research is to analyse the criminal liability of lawyers for corruption offences from theoretical and practical perspectives. This article includes such different topics as legal ethics, corruption offences and lawyers’ liability. As a general rule, lawyers must always follow the highest ethical rules. The use of professional status to commit offences, inter alia, corruption offences, is incompatible with the legal ethics and it violates ethical principles. Criminal liability as the ultimate measure (ultima ratio) could be applicable to lawyers who commit corruption offences such as active and passive bribery, abuse of office, or active and passive trading in influence. This research consists of three parts. The first part introduces the legal regulation of lawyers’ criminal liability for corruption offences. The second analyses the consequences of sentencing. Also, the possibility of application of the right to be forgotten to corrupt lawyers is analysed here. The third part examines the Lithuanian case-law in corruption cases. The purpose of this analysis is to answer the following questions: firstly, what legal professionals frequently commit corruption offences? Secondly, what corruption offences (active and passive bribery, trading in influence, or abuse of office) have mostly been committed by lawyers. Thirdly, what is the policy of legal consequences (penalties, penal effect measures, etc.) for corruption crimes committed by lawyers?. [From the publication]
