Reflections on the Professional Practice of Lawyers: Proposal for a Disciplinary Policy in Colombia

Abstract

The history of lawyers arises hand in hand with law, since one could not exist without the other. This relationship has brought about historical changes, especially in terms of the vision of how to control the relationship of individuals in society. Positioning, from a social function, imposed extremely heavy burdens on those legal workers, who had to study and apply the law. Accordingly, the social need of lawyers began to show a positioning, since their actions are transversal to society, an example of this is the creation of laws, the defense of civil and collective interests. This position of the legal profession should be a subject of discussion, the search for strategies to manage it should be strategic; that is, the presence of bad practices in the praxis of the lawyer generates distrust of citizens and the judicial system, from a legal and moral point of view. In this sense, disciplinary law emerges as one of those ways to guide it towards the rectitude of lawyers, sanctioning behaviors harmful to society and the profession. However, this area should not be understood with a sanctioning purpose, but the central axis that guides the lawyer's activity should be the education and prevention of these, therefore, disciplinary law must be present throughout the professional scenario, together with the preventive function of the sanctioning law as an element of social control fulfilling the objective of the profession.