The Supreme Administrative Court ruled that in Bulgaria attorneys-at-law can jointly perform their profession only in the form of law firms and lawyers’ partnerships registered with the Bar
On June 2, 2010 the 5-member panel of the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) finally ruled on the competition case initiated some two years ago by Bulgarian law firms against several commercial companies which have been established in Bulgaria by or with the participation of foreign lawyers, and have been acting as law firms without being registered as such. The final SAC ruling confirmed the interpretation of 2004 Bar Act which the Bulgarian law firms sustained that attorneys-at-law can jointly exercise their legal profession only in the form of law firms or lawyers’ partnerships registered with the Bulgarian Bar, and that it is a violation of the Protection of the Competition Act to perform the legal profession by a commercial company, escaping the special obligations and liabilities of attorneys-at-law vis-à-vis their clients and thus gaining unfair advantage over registered law firms and lawyers’ partnerships.
Copyright picture: pixabay.com