The Legal Profession, Politics and Public Opinion: Some Reflections on the Independence of Lawyers and the Rule of Law in Modern Italy

Abstract

The professional independence of lawyers is an essential prerequisite for the right to a fair trial and for the impartiality of judges – and therefore for the enforcement of the rule of law in free societies. This independence is the main guarantee for the effectiveness of the right to counsel. For lawyers to effectively perform their tasks, they must be independent – that is, free from pressure or influence. Political control over lawyers manifests itself both in the organisation of professional associations and in the work of individual professionals. At present, authoritarian governments in many countries are endangering the free exercise of the legal profession. Even in Europe, the back- sliding of the rule of law in some EU Member States is undermining the independence of the legal profession.

A further issue of relevance to the relationship between the administration of justice and society is public opinion in a broad sense, which also affects the independence of lawyers. In fact, lawyers who take on the cases of defendants charged with heinous crimes are often publicly insulted or threatened, and this may compromise the right to counsel. Such reactions are a result of the confusion surrounding the relationship between a lawyer and his or her client, namely the widespread belief that the lawyer necessarily sympathises or agrees with his or her client’s behaviour. The aim of this paper is to make a few remarks about the independence of lawyers, with a focus on the legal profession in Italy from unification in the second half of the 19^th century onwards. This issue offers a particular vantage point from which to reflect on the dynamics underlying the relationship between the legal profession, politics and society as well as on the effects that lawyer independence exerts on the enforcement of the rule of law.