In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Beneficent.

Ladies and Gentlemen;

I am overwhelmed with feelings of content and beyond grateful to connect with my fellow lawyers. I am also buoyed to attend the official inauguration of the training workshop for our junior lawyers.

Perhaps, the source of this feeling is not only derived from the warm welcome, the lavish hospitality, and the brotherly invitation of lawyers who insisted on my presence, but essentially from the growing sense of shared responsibility towards the present and the future of justice in our country, which we all share. Therefore, I am indebted to the President of the Bar Association in Tangier for evoking this feeling inside of me this evening, and for allowing me to connect with my defense body colleagues. To this end, I extend my gratitude to Mr. President, Presidents, and lawyers of the Bar Association in Tangier for their kind invitation and tender care, as well as for upholding this long-established tradition.

Ladies and Gentlemen;

Tangier Bar Association has chosen the Slogan: “Training the Trainee Lawyer is a Challenge for a Better Professional Future” for this year’s training workshop. The slogan summarizes all the hopes and ambitions that the profession of lawyer should aspire to achieve, and it should be a goal not only for a single Bar Association but for all Moroccan Bar Associations. For the profession of lawyer, akin to the judiciary, a profession for the administration of justice, requires its workforce to have a well-rounded knowledge of the law, to be conversant with jurisprudence, and to be well versed in procedures and measures, whilst everything should be at the highest levels of quality and efficiency. Litigants resort to a lawyer to defend their interests so as to render good services, for the law states that the profession of defense is exercised by lawyers only. Hence, it is unacceptable for a lawyer, same as with every other professional, to lack professional competence.

Therefore, we believe that the interest of the state and professional institutions, particularly defense bodies, in training lawyers is an essential link in the process of justice system reform. The quality of the judiciary’s rulings is not only determined by the role of the judge, but is also affected by the performance of other justice system practitioners, namely lawyers, whose motions, arguments, defenses, and replies play a major role in the quality of judgments rendered by the judiciary. In the same manner other practitioners’ performance affects the quality of the administration of justice, such as experts, process servers, justice officials, and others.

In this sense, we believe that the state’s contribution to and supervision of the training of justice practitioners is an essential pillar in the justice reform process.

We also believe that the intended reform must be based upon fundamental training quality, the imposition of continuous training, and the encouragement of specialized training for all professional practitioners in the justice field. Moreover, it is crucial to modernize the judiciary and expedite the implementation of the digital court, not only by providing technological means and digital software, but also by training all human resources of the justice system. We believe that the delay in achieving this project may cost the system heavy losses and deny citizens real opportunities to benefit from the immeasurable benefits of modern technology.

On another note, we reiterate, once more, our belief that moralization is the main pillar of the justice system reform, and that ingraining morals in junior lawyers is a professional duty shared by professional bodies of lawyers, practicing attorneys, the judiciary, and the state itself; so that the end result would be virtuous lawyers with solid morals that cannot be shaken by the difficult financial conditions of young lawyers who are at the beginning of their careers on the one hand, and the temptations they are offered as well as their lack of experience on the other. There is no need to remind you that the profession of lawyer is akin to the judiciary - it cannot exist without ethics. Professional ethics alone make the lawyer use his knowledge and competence in order to administer justice and assist the judiciary in issuing fair rulings. Surely, knowledge without the observation of ethics becomes a weapon of distraction. This greatly contrasts with the nobility, honor, and rich heritage of the profession of lawyer; as well as with its role in assisting the judiciary and contributing to the administration of justice.

Although training lawyers, judges, and other justice practitioners is achieved through proper, continuous, and specialized training, as well as through instilling professional ethics which all respected professions seek to regulate through the code of ethics, and heading towards the modernization of the justice system and digitizing procedures between courts and practitioners; then the professional conscience remains the faithful guardian of the credibility of all justice missions. There is no doubt that we all remember the words of His Majesty the King, may God assist him, on the anniversary of Throne Day in 2013 regarding judicial reform: “whatever the importance of this reform, and the regulatory texts and effective mechanisms we have mobilized for it; the “responsible conscience” of its actors shall remain the real test of its reform, as well as the key for the success of this sector as a whole.”

There is no doubt that these reform components, spearheaded by the responsible conscience, characterize judges, lawyers, and the rest of justice practitioners; and that their awakening and activation are contingent upon what we do as responsible for these professions, each from his position, as well as upon a sense of cooperation and collaboration that serves justice interests, citizens’ aspirations, and His Majesty’s expectations.

As I am addressing you from Tangier, I recall prominent lawyers, who were distinguished by a principled conscience and a commitment to the sanctities of this nation, as well as contributed from different positions to the defense of rights, justice, and the high interests of the nation, primarily the right to fair and just justice. Therefore, I am fully aware that good seeds are nourished and encouraged by the fertile soil of the profession of lawyer that belonged to this city over the course of history, from the time of Ibn Battuta until today.

(These ˹prophets˺ were ˹rightly˺ guided by Allah, so follow their guidance) – Al An’am, verse 90.

Wassalamu alaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh