European Law

Case C-3/22
Michael
v
Bar Council of the Multilingual Kingdom

Michael, an Irish national and a member of the Bar of Ireland, has practised the profession of lawyer in the Multilingual Kingdom (a fictional EU Member State) since 2018 where he works exclusively for the tax avoidance units of major international banks.

In 2021, he refused to attend an oral hearing with the Bar Council in order to assess his linguistic knowledge in the three official languages of the Kingdom, which are French, German and Esperanto. As a consequence, the Bar Council refused to register him on the register of lawyers practising under their home-country professional title.

The Bar Council simultaneously initiated disciplinary proceedings against Michael following his refusal to produce a certified translation of his practising certificate from the Bar of Ireland in French, German and Esperanto.

Taking the view that this refusal and the obligation to produce a certified translation of his registration certificate from his home Member State are not compatible with EU Directive 98/5/EC of 16 February 1998 to facilitate practice of the profession of lawyer on a permanent basis in a Member State other than that in which the qualification was obtained, Michael decided to challenge the actions of the Bar Council by bringing an action for annulment before the Administrative Court of the Multilingual Kingdom, which decided in turn to stay the proceedings and submit the following questions to the European Court of Justice under Article 267 TFEU:

(1) Does Directive 98/5 allow the host Member State to make the right of a lawyer to practise his profession on a permanent basis in that Member State under his home-country professional title subject to a test of his proficiency in any or all of the languages of that Member State? In the negative, may the host Member State require a European lawyer to have sufficient linguistic knowledge to represent his clients in each relevant case?

(2) Does Directive 98/5 preclude the host Member State from imposing on European lawyers established in the host Member State to produce a certified translation of their practising certificate from their home Member States in any or all of the languages of that Member State? In the negative, may the host Member State impose any registration conditions on a lawyer wishing to practice in that State?

Having received the reference in January 2022, the Registrar of the Court of Justice notified Michael and the Bar Council of the Multilingual Kingdom and invited them to attend an oral hearing in Spring 2022.

As counsels for either Mr AA (applicant) or the Bar Council of the Multilingual Kingdom (respondent), you are responsible for preparing a presentation to be delivered during the oral hearing. The Registrar of the Court has allocated you a maximum of 10 minutes to each party to present their arguments in relation to the questions submitted by the national referring court.

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