CHIEF Justice Prof Ibrahim Juma has asked newly sworn-in lawyers to abide by rules of ethical conduct, upholding integrity, trustworthiness and honesty as key pillars of the legal profession.

He made the call in Dar es Salaam when receiving the 555 new lawyers to the bar, demanding that they live to the oath of the profession.

The judiciary will not sit and watch lawyers contravene the code of conduct of their profession, he stated, intoning that he had received a series of complaints involving lawyers’ misconduct in the course of exercising their responsibilities.

Judicial administration is keen to oversee the conduct of lawyers, he said, pointing at the role of the Tanganyika Law Society (TLS) “to work on ethical conduct without being interfered with by anyone.”

Some issues touching involve discipline, which the judicial authorities cannot sit and watch as it is its role to oversee ethics and code of conduct for lawyers, he emphasised.

People, mostly clients, have been complaining that lawyers do not return original documents whenever there is change of lawyers, a habit he says flouts the tenets of the profession, ignores the code of conduct for the profession.

“These challenges are supposed to be addressed by TLS,” he reiterated, wondering if the TLS leadership and the newly accepted lawyers “know any section that speaks of the code of conduct.”

He described complaints from the general public as relating to contracts for land or farm sales, asserting that lawyer obtain certain inducements to seal the deal and disappear, castigating some lawyers of habitually failing to pay rents for their offices. That is an s embarrassing situation, he stated.

"Some send information to the judiciary that the debtors have agreed to settle outside the court without all the parties knowing it. Others take money from clients and do not appear in court until the case is dismissed," he further noted.

Lawyers need to observe moral requirements as the public relies on their services in filing complaints to the relevant authorities, as otherwise integrity is tainted, he added.