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Chapter Law Content

Title: Attorney Regulation Act CH
Category: Ministry of Justice(法務部)
Chapter 7 Associations
Section 1 Local Bar Associations
Article 51
Attorneys who practice law in law firms and total 30 or above in a juristic district of any district court may establish a local bar association, and designate the judicial district of such court as the region of such association. However, where any other local bar association is founded due to changes to the judicial district of any court in the original region of a local bar association, the latter local bar association should designate the modified judicial district of such court as its region.
Attorneys may jointly establish a local bar association in multiple judicial districts of district courts where there is no existing bar association.
Multiple bar associations may merge with one another.
Article 52
A local bar association shall be a legal person. Its competent authority should be the competent social administrative authorities in the place where it is located; its industry competent authority should be the local District Prosecutors' Office in the place where it is located.
A local bar association should aim at improving the moral character and ability of attorneys, improving the legal practice environment for attorneys, and urging attorneys to participate in charitable activities.
Article 53
A local bar association shall have 3 to 21 directors and 3 to 7 supervisors elected by members or from member representatives.
Article 54
The general meeting or the member representative meeting of a local bar association should discuss and approve the following matters:
1. Resolution on budgets and acknowledgement of final accounts;
2. Formulation and amendment of the association's charter;
3. Formulation and amendment of the rules of procedure for the general meeting or the member representative meeting;
4. Resolution on and approval of major property disposals;
5. Resolution on and approval of dissolution of the association; and
6. Other matters stipulated in the association's charter.
Article 55
The chairman a local bar association shall be the representative of the association.
If the chairman is unable to perform his/her duties for any reason, the vice chairman shall act as his/her representative; if there is no vice chairman or if the vice chairman is unable to perform his/her duties, the managing director (if any) shall be appointed by the chairman to act as his/her representative; if there is no managing director, the chairman shall appoint a director to act as his/her representative; if the chairman fails to or is unable to appoint a director as his/her representative, the managing director or directors shall elect one director from among themselves to act as the chairman's representative.
Article 56
A local bar association shall hold one general meeting or one member representative meeting convened by the chairman every year. The chairman shall convene an interim meeting upon the request of one fifth of the association’s members or member representatives or the request of the board of supervisors.
A general meeting or a member representative meeting shall require half of that association’s members or member representatives to constitute a quorum, unless otherwise provided in the association's charter.
Member representatives referred to in the preceding paragraph shall attend the meeting in person.
Any member who cannot attend a meeting in person as described in Paragraph 2 hereof may delegate another member in writing to act as his/her agent; however, the number of proxies in a single meeting shall not exceed one-third of the number of members present in person in such meeting, and each member may only accept one other member's delegation as his/her representative.
Members shall attend a meeting in person if the meeting requires less than half of the members to constitute a quorum.
Resolutions of the general meeting or the member representative meeting shall be adopted upon a majority consent of the attendance; provided, however, that the following matters should be agreed upon by more than two-thirds of the attendance:
1. Formulation and amendment of the association's charter;
2. Dismissal of a member or a member representative;
3. Removal of the chairman, the vice chairman, a managing director, a director or a managing supervisor, a supervisor and the convener of the board of supervisors;
4. Disposal of major properties;
5. Dissolution of the association; and
6. Other important matters related to the rights and obligations of the members.
Article 57
A local bar association shall establish and draft its charter, which shall be submitted to the local District Prosecutors' Office, competent social administrative authorities and the National Bar Association for reference. The same procedures shall apply in case of any amendment to the charter.
Article 58
The charter of a local bar association shall contain the following matters:
1. Name, location and its region;
2. Purpose, mission and organization;
3. Number, term of office, duties, authority, election and dismissal of the chairman, directors and supervisors and alternate directors and supervisors;
4. Number, term of office, duties, authority, election and dismissal of any vice director, managing director, convener of the board of supervisors, or managing supervisor (if any);
5. Functions of the board of directors and the board of supervisors;
6. Remuneration to the chairman (in case of a full-time chairman);
7. Rules of procedures for general meetings, member representative meetings and board of directors/supervisors meetings;
8. Rules of admission and withdrawal for general members and special members;
9. Membership fees for general members and special members;
10. Rights and obligations of general members and special members;
11. Matters concerning the maintenance and promotion of members' common interests, and the preparation and transmission of members' personal data;
12. Number of and election standards for member representatives (if any);
13. Matters and methods of compliance with attorney ethics;
14. Methods of notice regarding meetings and agendas;
15. Implementations of legal aid, legal services for the general public, and other charitable activities in society;
16. On-the-job continuing legal education for attorneys;
17. Matters relating to the insurance and welfare of attorneys;
18. Budgeting and accounting;
19. Disclosure of final accounts for income and expenditure, cashier accounts, assets and liabilities and property catalogs;
20. Procedures for disposal of major properties; and
21. Procedures for amendment to the charter.
The content of the charter in the preceding paragraph in contradiction with those that should be formulated in the charter of the National Bar Association and be applied to the nation shall be rendered null and void.
Article 59
When holding general meetings, member representative meetings and board of directors/supervisors meetings, a local bar association shall make a report to the competent local social administrative authorities and the local District Prosecutors' Office having jurisdiction over such bar association.
Article 60
Where a local bar association violates any law or its charter, or encumbers public welfare, the competent local social administrative authorities may warn it, cancel its resolution, or order it to suspend whole or a part of its business, and to improve such violation or encumbrance within a specified time limit; in case any improvement is not made within the time limit or such violation or encumbrance is serious, the competent local social administrative authorities may impose the following penalties on such bar association:
1. Removal or dismissal of its staff;
2. Governmental intervention within a limited time period; and
3. Dissolution.
Warning or cancellation of resolutions referred to in the preceding paragraph may also be administered by the local District Prosecutors' Office having jurisdiction over the local bar association after being reported to the Ministry of Justice for approval.
Article 61
A local bar association shall report to the competent local social administrative authorities and the local District Prosecutors' Office having jurisdiction the following information:
1. Member roster or member representative roster, and information on admissions to and withdrawals from the bar association;
2. Minutes of general meetings, member representative meetings and board of directors/supervisors meetings; and
3. The association's charter and resume book of employed staff.
The information stated in Subparagraph 1 of the preceding paragraph shall be submitted to the National Bar Association.
Section 2 National Bar Association
Article 62
The National Bar Association is a legal person whose competent authorities should be the competent central social administrative competent authorities and whose industry competent authority should be the Ministry of Justice.
The National Bar Association should aim at promoting the development of a society ruled by law, improving the environment for legal practice, implementing the self-regulation and autonomy of attorneys, cultivating legal talents, enhancing the quality of legal services, and protecting human rights.
Article 63
The members of the National Bar Association shall be categorized into the following two types:
1. Individual members: General members of local bar associations; and
2. Group members: Local bar associations.
The local bar associations are ex officio members of the National Bar Association.
Article 64
The National Bar Association shall have the board of directors and the board of supervisors. Except for the term of the directors and supervisors elected in accordance with Article 142 hereof, the number and composition of the board of directors and the board of supervisors shall be as follows:
1. Board of directors: 37 to 45 directors, one of whom shall be the chairman and two shall be vice chairmen. Except that the chairmen of the local bar associations concurrently act as the ex officio directors, the chairman, vice chairmen, and other remaining directors shall be directly elected by individual members through communications or electronic voting.
2. Board of supervisors: 11 to 15 supervisors who shall be directly elected by individual members through communications or electronic voting.
The term of office of the directors and supervisors stated in the preceding paragraph shall not exceed three years, and they may be re-elected for one additional term of office.
If the chairman of a local bar association is its special member, its joint meeting of the board of directors and supervisors shall appoint a director who is a general member to concurrently act as an ex officio director stated in Subparagraph 1 of Paragraph 1 hereof.
The National Bar Association may have managing directors. The number of managing directors shall not exceed one-third of that of the total directors. Except for the chairman and vice chairmen who are ex officio managing directors, the remaining seats of managing directors shall elected from among the directors mentioned in Paragraph 1 hereof.
The National Bar Association may have managing supervisors. The number of managing supervisors shall not exceed one-third of that of the total supervisors, and they shall be elected from among the supervisors mentioned in Paragraph 1 hereof. If there are three or more managing supervisors, one supervisor shall be elected from among themselves as the convener of the board of supervisors.
The number, election and dismissal of the chairman, vice chairmen, managing directors, directors, convener of the board of supervisors, managing supervisors and supervisors shall be formulated by the National Bar Association in accordance with its charter, except for the term elected in accordance with Article 142 hereof.
Article 65
The member representative meeting of the National Bar Association should discuss and approve the following matters:
1. Resolution on budgets and acknowledgement of final accounts;
2. Formulation and amendment of the association's charter;
3. Formulation and amendment of the Attorneys' Code of Ethics;
4. Formulation and amendment of the rules of procedure for member representative meetings;
5. Resolution on and approval of major property disposals;
6. Resolution on and approval of dissolution of the association; and
7. Other matters stipulated in the association's charter.
Article 66
The chairman of the National Bar Association shall be the representative of such association.
If the chairman is unable to perform his/her duties for any reason, the vice chairman shall act as his/her representative; if there is no vice chairman or if the vice chairmen are unable to perform their duties, managing directors (if any) shall be appointed by the chairman to act as his/her representative; if there is no managing director, the chairman shall appoint a director to act as his/her representative; if the chairman fails to or is unable to appoint a director as his/her representative, the managing directors or directors shall elect one director from among themselves to act as the chairman's representative.
Article 67
The National Bar Association shall hold one member representative meeting convened by the chairman every year. The chairman shall convene an interim meeting upon the request of one fifth of the association’s member representatives or the request of the board of supervisors.
The following persons shall attend member representative meetings:
1. Ex-officio member representatives: All directors and supervisors shall serve as Ex-officio member representatives concurrently.
2. Individual member representatives: Individual member representatives shall be directly elected by all individual members through communications or electronic voting. Their term of office shall be a maximum of three years, and they are eligible for re-election; their number, term of office, election and dismissal shall be determined by the National Bar Association in accordance with its charter, except for the term elected in accordance with Article 142 hereof.
3. Group member representatives: Local bar associations shall appoint their general members in their joint meetings of the board of directors and supervisors to serve as group member representatives, who may be re-appointed at any time; the number of such group member representatives shall be determined by the National Bar Association in accordance with its charter.
Paragraph 2, Paragraph 3 and Paragraph 6 of Article 56 hereof shall apply mutatis mutandis to the number of attendance and matters to be resolved in the member representative meetings.
Article 68
The National Bar Association shall submit its charter to the Ministry of Justice and the competent central social administrative authorities for reference. The same procedures will apply in case of any amendment to its charter.
After Attorneys' Code of Ethics have been approved by the association's member representative meeting, the National Bar Association shall submit the Attorneys' Code of Ethics to the Ministry of Justice for reference.
Article 69
The charter of the National Bar Association shall include the following matters:
1. Name and location;
2. Purpose, mission and organization;
3. Number, term of office, duties, authority, election and dismissal of the chairman, vice chairman, directors and supervisors and alternate directors and supervisors;
4. Number, term of office, duties, authority, election and dismissal of any managing director, convener of the board of supervisors, or managing supervisor (if any);
5. Number of group member representatives;
6. Functions of the board of directors and the board of supervisors;
7. Remuneration to the chairman (in case of a full-time chairman);
8. Rules of procedures for member representative meetings and board of directors/supervisors meetings;
9. Rules of admission and withdrawal for individual members;
10. Membership fees;
11. Rights and obligations of its members;
12. Matters concerning the maintenance and promotion of members' common interests, and the preparation and transmission of members' personal data;
13. Matters relating to procedures for attorneys' practice in the country or across regions, billable matters, amounts, fee collection, and preferential offering for pro bono cases;
14. Ways of administrative assistance and financial support for the local bar associations;
15. Matters and methods of compliance with attorney ethics;
16. Methods of notice regarding meetings and agendas;
17. Implementations of legal aid, legal services for the general public, and other charitable activities in society;
18. On-the-job continuing legal education for attorneys;
19. Matters relating to the insurance and welfare of attorneys;
20. Budgeting and accounting;
21. Disclosure of final accounts for income and expenditure, cashier accounts, assets and liabilities and property catalogs;
22. Procedures for disposal of major properties; and
23. Procedures for amendment to the charter.
The financial status of the local bar associations and the number of their general members, special members, and cross-region practicing attorneys should be taken into consideration in determining the ways of the financial support described in Subparagraph 14 of the preceding paragraph hereof, in order to enable them to maintain effective operation.
Article 70
When holding a member representative meeting, or a board of directors/supervisors meeting, the National Bar Association shall report to the competent central social administrative authority and the Ministry of Justice.
Article 71
Where the National Bar Association violates any law or its charter, or encumbers public welfare, the competent central social administrative authorities may warn it, cancel its resolution, or order it to suspend whole or a part of its business, and to improve such violation or encumbrance within a specified time limit; in case any improvement is not made within the time limit or such violation or encumbrance is serious, the competent central social administrative authorities may impose the following penalties on the National Bar Association:
1. Removal or dismissal of its staff;
2. Governmental intervention within a limited time period; and
3. Dissolution.
Warning or cancellation of resolutions referred to in the preceding paragraph may also be administered by the Ministry of Justice.
Article 72
The National Bar Association shall report to the competent central social administrative authorities and the Ministry of Justice the following information:
1. Member roster, and information on admissions to and withdrawals from the National Bar Association;
2. Minutes of member representative meetings and board of directors/supervisors meetings; and
3. Its charter and resume book of employed staff.