Appeal in public law against a decision of the Bar Commission regarding a conflict of interest of a lawyer

Facts

The dispute concerns a conflict of interest of a lawyer, B., who represented his client, A., in a criminal procedure. Bank X., a civil party in this procedure, reported B. to the Bar Commission of the canton of Geneva for a conflict of interest, because B. was a partner in a law firm where one of the partners, F., represented the interests of Bank X. in other procedures. The Bar Commission prohibited B. from representing A. in the criminal procedure in question. A. and B. filed an appeal against this decision with the Administrative Court of the canton of Geneva, which declared A.'s appeal inadmissible and dismissed B.'s appeal.

The Federal Court was seized of a public law appeal by A. and B. against the judgment of the Administrative Court. The Federal Court dismissed A.'s appeal and partially annulled the judgment of the Administrative Court in B.'s case.

Considerations

The Federal Court examined A.'s standing to appeal and considered that, although A. has an interest in having the prohibition against his representative lifted, this interest is indirect and does not suffice to confer standing to appeal within the meaning of art. 89 para. 1 FSCA. The Federal Court also examined the decision of the Bar Commission and considered that it did not contain a sufficient statement of facts to allow the Federal Court to apply art. 12 let. c FMLA and rule on the existence of a concrete conflict of interest.

The Federal Court recalled that the standing to appeal before the cantonal authorities cannot be assessed in a more restrictive manner than the standing to appeal before the Federal Court. It also recalled that…