Revocation of a licence
1) At the request of the licensed trial counsel themselves
The licence is always granted until further notice. If a licensed trial counsel no longer needs the licence and wants to be released from the annual supervision fee, they must request the Board on Trial Counsel to revoke their licence. Requests for revoking a licence must be made in writing and delivered to the Board either by post or email (oikeudenkayntiavustajaltk(at)oikeus.fi).
The request for revocation must include sufficient identifying information on the licensed trial counsel, as well as the date on which the counsel wants their licence to expire. In its established decision-making practice, the Board on Trial Counsel has determined that licences cannot be revoked retrospectively. Requests for revocation are always discussed at a meeting of the Board, and the earliest possible date for revoking the licence is the date of the meeting at which the revocation request is discussed. The licensed trial counsel can also request to have their licence revoked on some later date, such as from the beginning of the following year.
If a licensed trial counsel wants their licence revoked so that they will be exempt from the following year’s supervision fee, they must request the Board to revoke the licence in good time before the end of the year. The revocation request should be delivered to the Board in the first week of December at the latest to ensure the processing of the request at the last meeting of the year.
When sending e-mail, replace (at) with @.
2) For disciplinary reasons
According to section 13, subsection 2 of the licensed Trial Counsel Act, the Board on Trial Counsel must revoke the licence of a licensed trial counsel who acts dishonestly or in another manner intentionally violates the rights of another person in their assignments referred to in section 8 of the Act. If there are mitigating circumstances connected to the conduct of the trial counsel, a monetary penalty may be imposed or a caution given instead.
According to subsection 3 of the same section, a caution or reprimand must be given to a licensed trial counsel who violates the provisions of section 8 in a manner other than that referred to in subsection 2. If the conduct of the trial counsel referred to in subsection 3 or 2 is repeated or there are other aggravating circumstances involved, their licence referred to in the Act can be revoked or a monetary penalty may be imposed on them.
It should be noted that, pursuant to the Act, the Board on Trial Counsel may only impose disciplinary sanctions on a licensed trial counsel if so recommended by the Disciplinary Board. In other words, complaints concerning the actions of licensed trial counsel must be made to the independent Disciplinary Board operating in connection with the Finnish Bar Association, not to the Board on Trial Counsel. For more information, see ”Complaints on licensed trial counsel”.
The Board on Trial Counsel will afford the licensed trial counsel the opportunity to be heard before deciding on the revocation of their licence.
3) For non-disciplinary reasons
Section 20 of the licensed Trial Counsel Act states that the Board on Trial Counsel must also, ex officio, revoke a licence if the licensed legal counsel no longer fulfils the requirements for granting the licence provided for in section 2 or has not remitted the application fee, supervision fee or monetary penalty within a reasonable period after they have been reminded of the failure to pay this, and the failure to do so cannot be deemed petty.
According to established legal practice, circumstances such as certain legally final criminal convictions and the non-temporary insolvency of the licensed trial counsel have led to the revocation of the licence. Various parties, such as courts, enforcement authorities or private individuals, can notify the Board on Trial Counsel that a licensed trial counsel no longer fulfils the requirements.
The Board on Trial Counsel will afford the licensed trial counsel the opportunity to be heard before deciding on the revocation of their licence.