Section 10D: Professional conduct

10D. Professional conduct (1) An act or omission of a law practitioner may constitute professional misconduct even where it is only done or occurs while he provides legal services through a law firm. (2) A signing practitioner may be liable to disciplinary proceedings if the business of the law firm is conducted in a manner unbefitting the legal profession, unless such conduct can be attributed to the act or omission of a particular law practitioner. (3) A law practitioner or a legal consultant who is a partner, director or employee of a law firm shall not— (a) hold shares in any other law firm; (b) be a partner, director, employee of any other law firm, or foreign law firm or joint law venture, except the joint law venture in which his firm is a constituent; (c) practise as a law practitioner or legal consultant on his own account, as the case may be; or (d) after leaving a law firm, join as a partner, director, employee or legal consultant of another law firm, foreign law firm, or joint law venture within a period of 6 months, unless the law firm he is leaving gives its written consent. (4) Where a director of a law firm has reasonable grounds to believe that an act or omission of a law practitioner or a legal consultant who is a partner, director or employee of the law firm constitutes a breach of the relevant Code of Ethics or rules of professional practice, he shall forthwith report the matter— (a) in the case of a barrister, to the Mauritius Bar Association; (b) in the case of an attorney, to the Mauritius Law Society; (c) in the case of a notary, to the Chamber of Notaries; or (d) in the case of a legal consultant, to the Chief Justice. [S. 10D inserted by s. 6 of Act 8 of 2008 w.e.f. 15 December 2008.]