On Friday, January 6, the Moroccan Bar Association held an emergency meeting at its headquarters in Rabat to review public reactions to the national bar exam test results, and the controversy surrounding it.
After debate and consideration, the association’s office issued a statement for the public’s consideration.
The list of candidates who passed the national bar exam was revealed a few days prior, and it sparked a whirlwind of controversy, that Morocco’s Minister of Justice Abdellatif Ouahbi exacerbated by statements many say were “highly provocative.”
The association consequently issued a statement denouncing and refusing to use the eligibility exam as justification for resuming “a campaign of systematic targeting of the legal profession, the leveling of unfounded accusations against professional organizations, and the undermining of their legitimacy.”
The bar association denounced “the motivations, objectives, and parties behind the abuse of every opportunity to criticize the legal profession and the attempt to undermine the noble and pure nature of its mission.”
Despite being a free profession, the legal profession, according to the association bureau, “is subject to institutional control in accordance with legal and practical conditions.”
As read in the statement, “the regulations ensure the provision of the necessary conditions for those admitted, to spend their training period in circumstances that qualify them to familiarize themselves with the fundamental principles and values of practicing the profession.”
The association further condemned “the unfounded responses that went beyond the bounds of the legitimate right to protest and strayed away from the conceivable legal and administrative paths.”
The bureau explained that these “reactions aimed to harm, abuse, and defame families, as well as the institutions involved and in charge of overseeing the exam.”
Finally, the bureau urged “all colleagues to respect the traditions and customs of the legal profession and to act with professionalism when harmful campaigns are launched against the field.”
Abdelatif Ouahbi, Minister of Justice and Secretary of the Modernity and Authenticity Party have been the center of criticism about the test dispute, both because he is a prominent figure in the legal system and because his son and other close relatives successfully passed the written bar exam.
NGOs, Parliament, and civil society spoke up in this regard, demanding clarifications, an investigation, or even the resignation of the Minister.
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