Two trainee lawyers have been penalised by the court for forging a signature on attendance sheet, a statement by the Court of Final Appeal (TUI) said yesterday.
The statement said that A and B were trainee lawyers and were taking a mandatory trainee law class at the Legal and Judicial Training Centre in the central district. The statement noted that on September 5, 2018, B was running late for class so she asked A by text message to forge her signature on the attendance sheet. The statement pointed out that A signed both A and B’s names on the attendance sheet to disguise the fact that B was late for the class.
According to the statement, the Higher Council of Lawyers decided to take disciplinary action against A and B by giving them a warning each. However, the Macau Lawyers Association was unhappy with the result so it appealed to the Court of Second Instance (TSI). The statement pointed out that the association thought that B’s punishment was not harsh enough as she was the one who got A to forge her signature on the attendance sheet.
The statement pointed out that the Court of Second Instance found the association’s argument reasonable and cancelled the judgement made by the council. As a result, the statement added, B herself then found the new judiciary decision unfair and appealed to the Court of Final Appeal (TUI).
The Court of Final Appeal panel concluded that the initial penalty did not “contain obvious or serious flaws”, adding that as a result of giving both A and B warnings was not “inappropriate”. In other words, the Court of Final Appeal rejected the Court of Second Instance’s decision and upheld the council’s decision to give the two trainee lawyers merely a warning each.
