As the Czech Bar Association (Ceska Advocatni Komora or CAK) tries to crack down on ethics violations, Weil Gotshal & Manges and leading Czech independent Havel & Holasek have been caught up in recent disciplinary investigations for alleged conflicts of interest. While the CAK dropped its Havel & Holasek investigation in late October, at the time of going to press the inquiry involving Weil Gotshal was still under way.
A growing number of lawyers for both local and multinational firms in the Czech Republic are abandoning ethical standards in an effort to gain a stronger foothold in an increasingly competitive legal market, according to the CAK. While it will not comment on specific cases under investigation, the association says that overall disciplinary investigations have increased 60% in the last decade. In 2007, the CAK’s disciplinary commission handled nearly 150 complaints against lawyers, a fifth of which involved violations of the Bar’s conflict of interest standards, which date from 1996.
