Pakistani Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani to receive ABA human rights award
The American Bar Association announced that it will honor Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, with its 2023 ABA International Human Rights Award in recognition of his courageous judgments against political impunity in a time of crisis and for defending judicial independence.
The award will be presented during a dinner on August 5 at the ABA Annual Meeting in Denver.
The International Human Rights Award was established to honor and give public recognition to a lawyer, human rights luminary or international human rights organization that has made an exceptional contribution to the advancement of human rights outside of the United States. The award is given on behalf of the ABA Center for Human Rights, Section of International Law, Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice, Section of Litigation and Rule of Law Initiative.
Jillani took important and unprecedented measures to safeguard the rights of religious minorities, as defined in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, by issuing a ruling known as the Judgment on Minority Rights in 2014, which not only detailed the scope of the fundamental right to freedom of religion available to all religious minorities in the country but also outlined a strategy through which these rights may be fully realized in the Pakistani context.
The judgment not only resolves the thorny question of a potential conflict between Islamic and democratic ideals but also provides a way forward for a country that is committed to upholding Islamic values but can still provide a voice to its marginalized communities. Jillani has followed a philosophy that superior courts and particularly the Supreme Court, through their judgments, make an important contribution to eliminating discrimination and bias in society and thereby promote tolerance and co-existence, which are critical elements of any democracy.
Jillani also penned a song – “Justice for All!” – which is known as the Judicial Anthem of Pakistan. It encapsulates the spirit of the judgment on minority rights and his vision for a pluralistic society. It lauds the legal profession as a noble calling and not merely a trade and cautions the nation that if the values of brotherhood and Islamic plurality on which the country was founded are abandoned, the country and its citizens will bear a heavy cost.
“The committee carefully considered a number of well-qualified nominees, and the decision was difficult,” said Mark D. Agrast, the chair of the selection committee for the 2023 ABA International Human Rights Award. “Ultimately, we reached a unanimous decision to present the award to Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, the former chief justice of Pakistan, in recognition of his courageous defense of judicial independence, religious freedom and the rule of law.”
ABA issues ethics guidance for office sharing when lawyers practice independently
The American Bar Association Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility released a formal opinion Wednesday that provides guidance to lawyers on how they might share an office and staff resources with an unaffiliated attorney under ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct at www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/model_rules_of_professional_conduct_table_of_contents.
Formal Opinion 507 notes that while office-sharing is permissible under the model rules, attorneys should appreciate that such arrangements will require “appropriate measures to comply with their ethical duties concerning the confidentiality of information, conflicts of interest, supervision of nonlawyers and communications about their services.”
The opinion also points out that lawyers who share offices but do not practice together as a law firm must take appropriate steps to clearly communicate the nature of their relationship to the public and to their clients and cites the model rule that covers advertising as prohibiting any “false or misleading communication about the lawyer or the lawyer’s services.” For instance, the lawyers “may not imply or hold themselves out as practicing together in one firm when they are not a firm.”
Having an office-sharing arrangement does not necessarily bar two attorneys from representing different clients with adverse interests in a court proceeding or a transaction, the opinion said. “This determination will ultimately turn on specifics of the office-sharing arrangement and the nature of the proposed representations,” it said, adding disclosure of the arrangement and communicating efforts to maintain confidentiality should be provided in writing.
The ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility periodically issues ethics opinions to guide lawyers, courts and the public in interpreting and applying ABA model ethics rules to specific issues of legal practice, client-lawyer relationships and judicial behavior. Other recent ABA ethics opinions are available at www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/ethics_opinions/?login.
