Suchergebnisse

Attorney is a person who defends human rights and freedoms, goes between law and clients interests. Not only the law, but also the public matter, provides the requirements of legal profession. According to the legal acts, one of the main requirements of becoming a qualified and trusted attorney is excellent reputation. Nowadays, in the modern society of the 21st century, people are surrounded by social networks and public mass media information, which develops the opinion of general public. All kinds of information are reachable within a matter of time. Because of this reason, the reputation of a lawyer is valued not only by laws and governments, but also by the clients who care about their future. Impeccable reputation is something that cannot be touched or easily deleted, but can make a significant impact on attorney's legal career. On the 1st of May, 2004 Lithuania became a member of the European Union (EU), which lead to ratification of legal acts and legislations as well as acceptance of the main EU's democracy principles. Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides a right to respect for one's private and family life. It states that a person has a right to choose his own profession and occupation. After Lithuania became a member of the EU, the political changes also made an impact on the legislature. The requirements of joining the Lithuanian Bar Association were reduced to follow the politics of the Union. Despite the fact that attorney's functions are highly valued in the norms of society, the new members of Lithuanian Bar Association are expected to meet the minimum requirements. The Supreme Court of Lithuania has stated that: "…there are no offences that would be as serious to unconditionally prevent an attorney to apply for a right to resume doing lawyer activity…". For this reason, even a disreputable person who has been convicted of a criminal offence, can become an attorney. The goal of this thesis is to answer the main question: Does the deletion of attorney's previous conviction mean, ipso facto, the recovery of excellent reputation? In order to achieve the goal of the thesis, following tasks are raised: 1. To examine the historical development of the Bar; 2. To define the lawyer's role in society and legislative framework; 3. To describe the concept of an impeccable reputation in the legal and moral contexts; 4. To analyze lawyer's conviction problem and the opportunities of vocational rehabilitation in both public morality and law contexts. The topic has been examined in contexts of both legal and moral norms. Conviction of someone of an important position in the society may cause negative public discussions. It goes without saying, that it is extremely difficult to gain excellent reputation. However, it can be ruined by one simple mistake. It has been concluded, that a formal deletion of lawyer's criminal records does not bring back the status of an exemplary attorney; in relation to not only the laws, but also the overall public moral principles. Despite the fact, that occupation of an attorney is protected by the law, the attorneys themselves are responsible for their actions which might end up in court. For an attorney that has had legal offenses, it is required by the law to complete some sort of rehabilitation. By the time, there is no accurate system in place that would define further steps for the lawyer. Furthermore, the term of rehabilitation is far from being clear; regarding the way it should run, the intensity, the operation period, etc. For that reason, the conditions might be made favorable for the attorneys who tend to carry out criminal acts. Because of the idea that a lawyer is a representative of a client, all the questions concerning his reputation should be critically valued by the society. Nevertheless, at the moment, the future of an attorney that has been convicted depends on a legislator and not on the client, which is the main reason the whole profession exists itself. Therefore, a lawyer with criminal records discredits the image of the Lithuanian Bar Association as well as causing a decrease of people's trust. According to social surveys, in recent years the rate of the trust in the Lithuanian Bar Association is dropping. The main criteria based on which lawyers are being chosen by the clients are: recommendations and the reputation of an attorney. In order to increase people's trust, the legislator should consider taking account of not only the international acts of law. The reputation and rehabilitation should be regulated by the public demands, while taking into consideration the seriousness of the offense. Regarding all these aspects, the hypothesis that a deletion of lawyer's criminal offenses does not mean that they retrieve their excellent reputation – was approved.

Attorney is a person who defends human rights and freedoms, goes between law and clients interests. Not only the law, but also the public matter, provides the requirements of legal profession. According to the legal acts, one of the main requirements of becoming a qualified and trusted attorney is excellent reputation. Nowadays, in the modern society of the 21st century, people are surrounded by social networks and public mass media information, which develops the opinion of general public. All kinds of information are reachable within a matter of time. Because of this reason, the reputation of a lawyer is valued not only by laws and governments, but also by the clients who care about their future. Impeccable reputation is something that cannot be touched or easily deleted, but can make a significant impact on attorney's legal career. On the 1st of May, 2004 Lithuania became a member of the European Union (EU), which lead to ratification of legal acts and legislations as well as acceptance of the main EU's democracy principles. Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides a right to respect for one's private and family life. It states that a person has a right to choose his own profession and occupation. After Lithuania became a member of the EU, the political changes also made an impact on the legislature. The requirements of joining the Lithuanian Bar Association were reduced to follow the politics of the Union. Despite the fact that attorney's functions are highly valued in the norms of society, the new members of Lithuanian Bar Association are expected to meet the minimum requirements. The Supreme Court of Lithuania has stated that: "…there are no offences that would be as serious to unconditionally prevent an attorney to apply for a right to resume doing lawyer activity…". For this reason, even a disreputable person who has been convicted of a criminal offence, can become an attorney. The goal of this thesis is to answer the main question: Does the deletion of attorney's previous conviction mean, ipso facto, the recovery of excellent reputation? In order to achieve the goal of the thesis, following tasks are raised: 1. To examine the historical development of the Bar; 2. To define the lawyer's role in society and legislative framework; 3. To describe the concept of an impeccable reputation in the legal and moral contexts; 4. To analyze lawyer's conviction problem and the opportunities of vocational rehabilitation in both public morality and law contexts. The topic has been examined in contexts of both legal and moral norms. Conviction of someone of an important position in the society may cause negative public discussions. It goes without saying, that it is extremely difficult to gain excellent reputation. However, it can be ruined by one simple mistake. It has been concluded, that a formal deletion of lawyer's criminal records does not bring back the status of an exemplary attorney; in relation to not only the laws, but also the overall public moral principles. Despite the fact, that occupation of an attorney is protected by the law, the attorneys themselves are responsible for their actions which might end up in court. For an attorney that has had legal offenses, it is required by the law to complete some sort of rehabilitation. By the time, there is no accurate system in place that would define further steps for the lawyer. Furthermore, the term of rehabilitation is far from being clear; regarding the way it should run, the intensity, the operation period, etc. For that reason, the conditions might be made favorable for the attorneys who tend to carry out criminal acts. Because of the idea that a lawyer is a representative of a client, all the questions concerning his reputation should be critically valued by the society. Nevertheless, at the moment, the future of an attorney that has been convicted depends on a legislator and not on the client, which is the main reason the whole profession exists itself. Therefore, a lawyer with criminal records discredits the image of the Lithuanian Bar Association as well as causing a decrease of people's trust. According to social surveys, in recent years the rate of the trust in the Lithuanian Bar Association is dropping. The main criteria based on which lawyers are being chosen by the clients are: recommendations and the reputation of an attorney. In order to increase people's trust, the legislator should consider taking account of not only the international acts of law. The reputation and rehabilitation should be regulated by the public demands, while taking into consideration the seriousness of the offense. Regarding all these aspects, the hypothesis that a deletion of lawyer's criminal offenses does not mean that they retrieve their excellent reputation – was approved.

Genocide is described as one of the most severe crimes of the international law. After the Second World War international community decided to codify international law and the general principles of the law recognized by civilized nations. The United Nations enacted The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The convention stated that genocide crime is described as acts against national, ethnic, racial or religious group. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, many countries including Lithuania got back their independence. Lithuania's legislators incorporated the norms of the Genocide convention into the state's legal system. Besides these norms legislators also included social and political groups into the definition of genocide crime. It was done in order to punish persons, who were responsible for the criminal offense against Lithuania's citizen during soviet occupation. The decision that states legislators made extended the definition of genocide crime established in international law, which defines genocide as the acts against national, ethnic, racial or religious group, but not against social or political group. Under international principle nullum crimen sine lege a person should not face criminal punishment except for an act that was criminalized by law before he performed the act. In this work it is aimed to determine whether the extended genocide structure established in Lithuanian legal system does not violate principle nullum crimen sine lege. First of all, there were analyzed the definition of genocide crime and the reasons why social and political groups were not included. Before the Genocide convention, this act had no name and the first one, who came up with the name was R. Lemkin, who wrote a book about genocide crime. Then United Nations enacted the convention, which determines the genocide as the acts against national, ethnic, racial or religious group. During the process there were a lot of discussions about the groups, which should be protected by the convention, the social and political groups were also included in the projects. But some countries including Soviet Union disagreed with the protection of these groups. So, the social and political groups were not included into the Genocide convention because of the political reasons. But besides that, there is a number of other countries like Lithuania, which also included the social and political groups into their domestic laws in order to protect them. Secondly, there is a description of the principle nullum crimen sine lege. There were analyzed the application of the principle and the exception of it. The principle means that a person should not face criminal punishment except for an act that was criminalized by law before he performed the act. The exception is applied to sui generis offenses – war crimes and crimes against humanity, which is recognized by the civilized nations. This means that the exception of nullum crimen sine lege is applied to the crime of genocide too. Thirdly, it was analyzed the reasons why Lithuania's legislators included the social and political groups into the definition of genocide. In order to punish persons, who were responsible for the acts against Lithuanians during the occupation of Soviet Union the definition was extended by adding social and political groups into the definition. When the persecution of the perpetrators in Lithuania has started, there were perceived that it was not easy to prove the extermination of national and ethnic groups. It was easier to prove the special intent to exterminate the political and social groups, because soviets acts were directed to the specific groups of Lithuanians, which cannot be described as national, ethnic, racial or religious groups. Fourthly, in the work there were analyzed the definitions of social and political groups. Social group is a group where members are related with common ties and characteristics. The national, ethnic, racial and religious groups are also social groups even though the social group itself was not included in the Genocide convention. But not all social groups are national, ethnic, racial or religious groups, so the Genocide convention protects only a certain type of social groups. Political groups are groups, where members are related with common beliefs, which can be compared even with the religious beliefs. The drafters of the Genocide convention justified the exclusion of political group from the protected list of groups because it lacked the stability. But there were no discussions about including the religious group, which is as stable as political group. Finally, there were analyzed the relation between the extended definition of genocide and principle nullum crimen sine lege. Even though the exception of the principle nullum crimen sine lege is applicable to the crime of genocide, it is applied only to the crime, which is defined by the general principles of international law, which is recognized be the civilized nations. That means that exception is valid for the acts against national, ethnic, racial or religious groups, but not to social or political groups, because these two groups are not protected from genocide crime by the Genocide convention and other international laws.