The Advocate Act

This section says the Act may be cited as the Advocates Act.

This section defines key terms used in the Act, including advocate, client, Committee, Council, Minister, parastatal organisation, practising certificate, Registrar, Roll, and taxing officer.

Certain officers are entitled to practise as advocates and do related legal functions when acting in the duties of their office, but remain subject to this Act.

An advocate appointed to certain government posts has their practising certificate stayed and is exempt from renewal, returns, and fee payments until they leave the appointment or are authorised to practise again.

This section establishes the National Advocates Committee and sets out who its members are, how temporary replacements are appointed, who chairs meetings, how quorum is formed, and when a member must not sit or vote.

This section establishes a Regional Advocates Committee in each Region and sets out its members, quorum, and complaint-handling steps.

The Regional Advocates Committee can hear applications to remove an advocate’s name from the Roll and allegations of misconduct, and may refer removal findings to the National Advocates Committee.

The Chief Justice may make rules to improve implementation of provisions about Advocates Committees.

The Attorney General fixes the times and places for Committee meetings.

This section establishes the Council of Legal Education and sets out who sits on it, how meetings and quorum work, how decisions are made, and that the Council may regulate its own procedure.

The Council must carry out the functions given to it by law, supervise and control legal education in Tanzania for this Act, and advise the Government.

A Permanent Secretariat must administer and manage the Council, and during the interim period it must also allocate law graduates from accredited universities for practical legal training.

The Permanent Secretariat must provide logistical and technical support to the Council for monitoring and controlling practical legal training in Tanzania.

The Registrar must keep a Roll of all advocates.

The Registrar must enter every qualified advocate in Tanzania on the Roll.

A person may apply to the Chief Justice for admission as an advocate if the person meets the listed qualifications or experience route, and the Council can exempt some requirements.

Advocates rank among themselves by the order their names were entered on the Roll, with the Attorney General ranked above all other advocates.

The Attorney General may convene a Committee meeting at any time, and must do so when the Chairman requests it, to inquire into allegations of misconduct against an advocate.

The Attorney General may act on information brought to his notice when exercising power under section 18.

The Attorney General may require a person who accuses an advocate of misconduct to back up the allegation with an affidavit.

The Committee can hear and decide advocate disciplinary matters, require an advocate to show cause, and impose outcomes like removal from the Roll, admonition, suspension, or costs orders.

The Committee may make rules with the Chief Justice’s approval, and the Chairman may administer oaths and issue summonses for applications under this Part.

A person served with a summons under section 21 must attend, answer questions, and produce listed documents unless there is sufficient cause; refusal can be an offence punishable by a fine of up to one thousand shillings.

The Chief Justice and High Court judges keep powers to discipline advocates, including admonishing, suspending, or removing an advocate from the Roll, and an aggrieved advocate may appeal within 30 days.

Section 31 is repealed.

The Registrar must record certain disciplinary orders against an advocate’s name on the Roll and, when directed, remove the name from the Roll. The Registrar must also send certified copies of relevant orders to the Supreme Court or High Court of each East African country.

An aggrieved advocate may appeal to the High Court within 30 days, and the Committee can participate in the appeal.

An advocate suspended or struck off in a reciprocating Commonwealth country can be suspended or removed in Tanzania, but the Chief Justice may stop or reverse those roll changes.

If an advocate is removed from the Roll or suspended from practice, any practising certificate is treated as cancelled immediately; if the suspension is shorter than the remaining certificate period, the certificate is suspended only for that shorter period.

An advocate’s name cannot be removed from the Roll for defects in admission or enrolment unless the removal application is made within six months of enrolment, and the section does not apply where fraud is proved.

People suspended from practice or removed from the Roll may apply to the High Court for relief, but the right is time-limited and can be revisited if new material facts arise.

An application under section 37 must be made by petition with a supported affidavit, and a copy must be served on the Attorney General at least 7 days before the hearing.

Petitions must be heard in open court, and the petitioner and Attorney General may appear or be represented.

The High Court may require oath verification or further evidence at a petition hearing, and it may adjourn the petition and make related orders.

If the High Court refuses certain suspension or re-admission applications, it may order the applicant to pay costs to the Attorney General.

Pending or finished civil or criminal proceedings do not stop proceedings under this Part, and proceedings under this Part do not stop other civil or criminal proceedings or other remedies based on the same facts.

The Registrar must issue practising certificates for advocates, but Law Officers and State Attorneys cannot be issued one while they are in service unless the Attorney General exempts them.

An advocate seeking a practising certificate must file a written declaration, pay the prescribed certificate fee and the annual Law Society subscription, and the Registrar must record the declaration details and issue the certificate if the stated conditions are met.

In certain cases, an advocate must give the Registrar at least six weeks’ notice before applying for a practising certificate, unless the Chief Justice orders otherwise.

An advocate’s practising certificate is suspended immediately if the advocate is adjudicated bankrupt, and the Registrar must record suspension or termination in the Roll.

A practising certificate normally starts when the Registrar issues it, lasts until 31 December of that year, and the Registrar must record the issue date on the Roll.

A person may act as an advocate only if their name is on the Roll, they hold a current practising certificate, and they have a valid business licence; the Chief Justice can also admit a person for one case on payment of the prescribed fee.

An advocate with a current practising certificate may practise in the High Court and subordinate courts, and may perform certain functions comparable to those of English barristers or solicitors.

An unqualified person must not act as an advocate or otherwise conduct litigation or issue court process in civil or criminal matters.

An unqualified person must not pretend to be, or use titles or descriptions suggesting they are qualified to act as an advocate.

An unqualified person must not draw or prepare certain instruments unless the work was not done for fee, gain, or reward, with stated exceptions.

A person who prepares certain instruments must endorse their name and address on them, and registering authorities must not accept or recognise an instrument unless it shows the preparer’s endorsed name.

A body corporate, and any director, officer, or servant acting for it, commits an offence if the act is calculated to suggest the body corporate is qualified to act as an advocate.

The Chief Justice may order a declared tout to stay out of the High Court precincts or subordinate court precincts for a specified period. The person must be allowed to show cause before the order is made, and while the order is in force the person may not enter or remain there without a judge’s leave for special cause.

A person acting as a tout for an advocate or on their own account commits an offence and may be fined up to one thousand shillings or imprisoned for up to six months on conviction.

A person must not induce or try to induce a client or prospective client to leave one advocate for another advocate they serve; doing so is an offence.

The Chief Justice or the Remuneration Committee may make orders about advocates’ remuneration, and those orders must be submitted to the President for approval before publication in the Gazette and commencement.

An order made under section 58 may set remuneration by commission or percentage rates, a gross sum, a fixed sum per document, or another mixed or alternative method.

An order under section 58 may let an advocate take security from a client for payment of remuneration and may regulate interest.

Bills of costs for advocates are taxed according to any order made under section 58 while that order is in force.

An advocate and client may make a written agreement about the advocate’s remuneration for non-contentious business, but the agreement must be signed by the person bound by it or that person’s agent.

An advocate may make a written agreement with a client about remuneration for contentious business.

Agreements under section 63 restrict what costs claims survive, and the High Court can enforce or set aside such agreements in defined cases.

An advocate must not receive payment under certain fee agreements until a taxing officer of the High Court has examined and allowed the agreement.

If an advocate dies or becomes unable to act before finishing work under an agreement, a party or their representative may apply to the High Court, which can enforce or set aside the agreement and may order the fee to be taxed.

If an agreement has been made, an advocate’s costs are not subject to taxation, except as the earlier provisions allow.

This section says certain advocate-client purchases, success-fee agreements, and bankruptcy-related transfers are not given validity by sections 66 to 70.

The High Court may order an advocate to deliver a bill of costs and hand over related deeds, documents, or papers, even if no business was done in the High Court.

A person cannot start an action to recover an advocate’s costs until one month after the bill is delivered, unless the High Court allows it earlier.

The High Court must tax an advocate’s bill on timely application, and it can stop any action on the bill until taxation is finished.

Some people other than the party chargeable for a bill may apply to the High Court to have the bill taxed, and the court may make related orders.

Applications about taxing an advocate’s bill must be made in the matter of that advocate, and the High Court may make orders about the taxed bill; the taxing officer’s certificate is final on the amount unless the High Court sets it aside or alters it.

A court may give an advocate a charge over recovered or preserved property for taxed costs, and may order costs to be paid from that property.

An admitted advocate is an officer of the High Court and is subject to that court’s jurisdiction.

The High Court may order certain Committee expenses to be paid to the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury, and those expenses are then treated as part of the United Republic’s general revenue.

The Committee or Remuneration Committee documents may be signed by the Chairman or another person the Committee appoints for that purpose.

The Registrar must keep certain fees in a separate account and pay the balance to the Law Society on quarterly dates; the Law Society may use the money for its permitted purposes.

The Committee may make regulations, but only with the Chief Justice’s approval.

This section says the Act does not override certain other laws and existing rules, except where they conflict with this Act or orders made under it.

This section repeals F.R.L. Cap. 10 and F.R.L. Cap. 11.