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We present to you our article titled “District Administrative Court Decision Regarding Intern Lawyers Doing Business With Consent from Public Institutions and Organizations” prepared by MGC Legal team.
In the decision numbered 2021/2932 E., 2022/258 K. of the Tenth Administrative Case Chamber of the Istanbul Regional Administrative Court;
Upon the application for information within the scope of the Law on Access to Information No. 4982 regarding whether a public lien has been applied on the immovables registered in the name of the plaintiff, the administration did not respond and a lawsuit was filed with the request for the cancellation of the transaction regarding the denial of embezzlement.
The dispute in question is about whether the trainee lawyer can request information from public institutions with the attorney’s power of attorney with whom he did his internship. The reasoning that the attorney’s authority to perform the work and transactions followed by the lawyer and to present and receive documents in official institutions and organizations given to the trainee lawyer by the plaintiff’s attorney, taking into account Article 26 of the Attorneyship Law, by the first-instance court is contrary to the provisions of the relevant Law and Regulation, and in this context, he cannot make a request based on the said consent. with the dismissal of the case.
In the objection made by the attorney of the plaintiff to this decision, it was stated that the petition regarding the request for information was signed as “Av…”, the petition was not signed by the trainee lawyer, the administration made a mistake in this regard, and the lawyer who did his internship alongside the trainee lawyer could deliver the petition to public institutions and organizations.
As a result of the objection, in the examination made by the Regional Administrative Court; Through a trainee lawyer, where the petition regarding the request for information subject to the case is included in the case file and the petition is signed as “Av…”, the person making the request from the administration is not a trainee lawyer, and a consent letter is issued by the attorney’s attorney pursuant to Article 26 of the Attorneyship Law No. 1136. Since the petition was given to the administration, the lawyer who was interned with the trainee lawyer could deliver his petition to public institutions and organizations, since it is seen that there is no legal regulation in the Attorneyship Law No. 1136, which could prevent this situation. In addition, the lawyer, who is duly appointed with a power of attorney, does not have public access to the immovables registered in the name of the plaintiff. Since it is understood that there is no illegality in the request for information within the scope of the Law on Access to Information No. 4982 on whether the seizure is applied or not, a decision should be made about the claimant’s application for information, but the process regarding the failure to evaluate the request is legal. For the reasons explained, it was decided to accept the appeal application.
With this decision given by the Regional Administrative Court, the authority of the trainee lawyer to work on behalf of the lawyer in public institutions and organizations with the consent letter was emphasized. The internship and the homework of the trainee are regulated in Article 23 of the Attorneyship Law.
“The intern is obliged to attend the hearings with the lawyer, to do the lawyer’s work in the courts and administrative authorities, to arrange the case files and correspondence, to participate in the training activities organized by the bar association, to fulfill other duties given by the bar association board of directors and shown in the regulation. Interns must comply with the rules of the profession and the principles set in the regulations.“
As it is clearly stated in Article 26 of the Attorneyship Law, the jobs that trainees can do;
“After starting their internship with a lawyer, the interns can attend the hearings related to the cases and works followed by the lawyer in the civil courts of peace, the criminal courts of peace and the enforcement investigation offices, and carry out the works in the enforcement offices, with the written consent of the lawyer and under his supervision and responsibility. This authorization ends with the issuance of the internship completion certificate or removal from the internship list.“
In the 19th article of the Lawyer Internship Regulation of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations, the jobs that the interns can do are regulated and explained as follows;
“After the trainee starts his internship with a lawyer, he/she can attend the hearings related to the cases and works followed by the lawyer at the law of peace, criminal courts of peace and enforcement investigation authorities, and carry out the works in the enforcement offices, with the written consent of the lawyer and under his supervision and responsibility. This authorization ends with the issuance of the internship completion certificate or the deletion of its name from the internship list. The intern can take samples from the case files by photocopying and similar ways, with the written consent of the attorney with whom he/she does his internship. The intern can also review the case and follow-up files without a power of attorney or written consent.“
As it can be seen, it has been accepted that only with the written consent of the lawyer and under the supervision and responsibility of the lawyer, he can attend the hearings related to the cases and works followed by the lawyer in the civil, criminal courts of peace and enforcement courts and carry out the works in the enforcement offices.
On the other hand, in Article 15 of the Attorneyship Law No. 1136; “The legal internship is one year. Pursuant to the provisions in this part of the internship, the first six months are spent in the courts and the remaining six months are accompanied by a lawyer who has at least five years of seniority (this five-year seniority is also included in the service period specified in Article 4 of the Law).‘ is called.
Accordingly, attorneyship internship is a legal obligation and is carried out in order to gain professional knowledge and experience. Therefore, the relationship between the lawyer and the trainee lawyer is not based on employment or service contract, but a legal relationship. For this reason, the trainee lawyer has the authority to carry out transactions in public institutions and organizations on behalf of the lawyer, to examine the files, to take photocopies and similar samples from the case files with the lawyer’s written consent, and to attend the hearings in the courts determined by the law, with the consent letter.
Nevertheless, the decision made by the Regional Administrative Court is in accordance with the law and is a good decision. Trainee lawyers have the authority to do business and transactions on behalf of the lawyer.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
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