In a bid to revise the code governing Filipino legal practitioners, the Supreme Court has rolled out a reminder to lawyers to not engage themselves in any form of romantic relationships with their clients.
Associate Justice Maria Filomena Singh, in a telecast interview on Monday said that this could define and affect the legal duties and responsibilities of law practicioners with their client.
“We want to be very clear that the lawyer-client relationship can clearly define what are your duties and what are your responsibilities. We don’t want any dating or romantic factor to blur these lines,” Singh said.
The revision came after the high tribunal’s proposal to update the 34-year old Code of Professional Responsibility.
The existing code only has advice on proper etiquette among lawyers. Meanwhile, the proposed version states that it would strictly prohibit a lawyer from having an affair with a client.
“A lawyer shall not have dating, romantic or sexual relations with a client during the engagement, unless the consensual relationship existed between them before the lawyer-client relationship commenced,” an excerpt from Section 15 of the new version states.
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