How should the fall-out from the Panama Papers be addressed by the legal profession, asks Geoffrey Bindman QC
The naming in the “Panama Papers” of those concerned in hiding fortunes in tax havens will continue to alarm a number of prominent law firms—in the UK and across the globe. A committee of the European Parliament is investigating alleged contraventions of EU law relating to money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion arising out of the disclosures. The conduct of an international network of lawyers is clearly at the heart of them. This should cause no surprise. As lawyers have played an increasing role in the highly competitive market economy it has become harder for them to maintain respect for professional standards which are stricter than those of their clients.
Elements of the Common Law
The struggle to maintain professional integrity is not new. Francis Bacon described it in the preface to his E lements of the Common Law in 1630.
“I hold every man a debtor to his profession, from the which as
