Abstract

Lawyers who provide legal advice and represent clients in court, working as solicitors and barristers in the British courts, attorneys in the US courts, or as an adwokat in the Polish courts, are all members of a profession involving public trust. There is a special relationship between a legal advisor of this kind and his client. Te client confides important information about his life and conduct to his legal advisor and expects legal assistance in return, which means that not only the lawyer’s attitude towards the client, but also his conduct in everyday life should be characterised by respect and trust.

Not every law graduate holds the right qualifications to dispense legal advice to clients and represent them in court. In addition to the formal qualifications required by the law of his country, he should be characterised by an impeccable character and irreproachable conduct, which will serve as a guarantee that his practice in the profession will meet all the criteria expected of a good legal advisor.

Alongside his formal, professional qualifications, it is his personal integrity that guarantees the quality and reliability of his legal services and the maintenance of public trust expected of him. These are the two conditions prescribed in the Polish legislation for the guarantee (rękojmia) required of the prospective adwokat, which must be met before his name can be entered in the register of practitioners in the profession of adwokat.

The aim of this paper is to examine the rękojmia of the adwokat representing parties before a Polish court. I look at the problem from the point of view of legal doctrine and especially of Polish case law, which makes up the majority of the examples I refer to, enabling me to identify a well-established line of judicial decisions pertaining to the guarantee of quality for practice in the profession of adwokat.