Who is allowed to engage in legal representation in Israel?
The jurisdiction for legal representation in Israel is vested exclusively in lawyers who have a valid legal license to practice law in Israel. Section 20 of the Israel Bar Association Law, 1961 provides for a list of unique actions which lawyers may only perform:
- Representation before various public authorities such as courts, tribunals, bodies of judicial or quasi-judicial authority, and various state agencies, such as tax authorities and corporate and partnership registrars;
- Legal-drafting of documents, including representation in negotiations for the preparation of such documents;
- Legal advice and guidance;
Performing actions that are exclusively attributed to the attorneys by a person who is not a lawful lawyer in Israel constitutes a criminal offense. Anyone who is not a lawyer and who acts on behalf of lawyers is defined as having withdrawn the boundary of the profession and has been fined, in accordance with section 96 of the Law. The condition of a person who pretends to be an attorney or a suspended attorney who performed a unique action for the attorney during his suspension, is more severe, since he faces a year sentence or a financial penalty, in accordance with section 97 of the law.
Section 58 of the Bar Association Law also prohibits a lawyer from partnering with a person who is not a lawyer and also prohibits his sharing of income in exchange for services providing assistance or other benefits to his business. Rule 472 of the Civil Procedure Regulations provides that any action in the court required by a litigant or permitted by law may be performed only by the litigant himself or by a qualified attorney, and then there is another provision. A person who is not a lawyer may not represent another person in court even if this is done on a one-time and/or non-consideration basis, so there is a provision that allows this to be done by law. As part of RA 8120/08 Biton v. Portal, for example, it was held that a litigant cannot be represented by a “close friend” without the provision of law permitting it.
Stage may engage a foreign attorney in Israel
“Foreign lawyer” is defined in section 98A of the Bureau Law, as a lawyer with a license to practice law outside of Israel and whose professional activity as a lawyer is outside of Israel, and who is also registered in the Foreign Lawyers Register conducted by the Israel Bar. (A) The Bar Association Law states that, in spite of the provisions of section 20 of the Foreign Laws Law, it may provide legal services in a foreign matter, that is, in accordance with this section, a foreign lawyer may provide legal services in Israel, but only in the foreign law, And he is not allowed to provide legal services regarding Israeli law, which he can only give a lawyer with a license to practice law in Israel that is in effect, as stated.
The rationale for unifying legal representation in Israel
The purpose of unifying legal representation in Israel is to promote public interest in ensuring legal services at a proper level and to protect the public from people who do not have the proper skills to provide the service.
Unlike lawyers, trespassers of the profession and impostors as lawyers, they have never been trained to practice law practice as required by law, nor are they at all subject to the supervision of the law applicable to counsel, including the various ethics rules designed to preserve the profession, and to make sure As a result, the customer service is fair and proper. As a result, clients who receive legal representation from someone who is not lawfully exposed to many dangers, such as unprofessional and totally negligent representation, lack of a conflict of interest prohibition, preservation of client confidentiality, and retention of client funds, failure to collect a bill beyond the law, and other and such dangers.
As part of the CA 4223/12 Center for the Exercise of Medical Rights Ltd. et al. V. The Israel Bar Association et al., The Supreme Court ruled that the plaintiff, a member of Livnat Puran, is withdrawing the boundary of the law profession and that it may grant Only assistance of a technical nature, such as filling out forms, etc., to a person who is unfamiliar with the subtleties of the language or suffering from any impairment or limitation, and matters that do not involve the processing of the facts, exercising discretion or relying on the law. These things are even more important to people who live abroad and have legal matters in Israel that require legal representation, in fact only an Israeli lawyer who is knowledgeable and experienced in Israeli law will be able to represent or manage their affairs on the best side, so it is advisable to contact a lawyer with an Israeli license and with recommendations and experience.
