The Finnish Chancellor of Justice as an appeal in attorney-at-law disciplinary cases

Abstract

The article analyses the Chancellor of Justice’s right and obligation to appeal against the Supervisory Board’s disciplinary decisions in lawyers’ cases. The Chancellor of Justice can and must lodge an appeal if the public interest so requires. Nevertheless, in some cases, the Chancellor of Justice is considered to bring an appeal without the public interest justifying it, and in individual cases the appeal may even appear to be incompatible with the public interest. Against this background, the article aims to determine when and how the Chancellor of Justice's right of appeal should be exercised. The conclusion drawn in the article is that the Chancellor of Justice should only lodge an appeal in cases where the public interest requires or justifies it. Furthermore, the Chancellor of Justice should justify in the appeal in an open and concrete manner how the public interest is asserted in the individual case. In addition, the Chancellor of Justice must observe proportionality in the use of the resources of the judiciary and take into account the limited resources for legal protection.