The Chamber of Commerce Has an Accountants’ Committee; Why Is There No Lawyers’ Committee?

Election fever has gripped the chambers of commerce and industry and the bar associations. First of all, good luck to every candidate.

I want to mention something that caught my attention. Go to the chamber of commerce; there is an “Accountants’ Committee”. Is there a “Lawyers’ Committee”? No. Why not?

An accountant can form a limited or joint stock company. The lawyer is barred; Law No. 1136 stands in the way. A law partnership? It is entered in the bar register and is not treated as commercial. So in 2026 the lawyer still earns as an individual and spends as an individual.

What is the world doing? Legal giants sit at the arbitration table with corporate structures and capital in the billions. What are we doing? Chasing cross-border mergers with three-person offices.

Who carries the risk? Rent, staff, loans; all of it sits in the lawyer’s personal assets. Professional negligence is already covered by insurance. What is the point of commercial risk reaching the lawyer’s home and car?

And tax? The lawyer is in the 40 percent bracket. He has no breath left to invest what he earns in his office, in technology, in artificial intelligence. Yet the corporate tax regime gives room to those who leave their earnings in the firm.

What about the young lawyer? Today the only thing we can give him is a salary. If there were a company, shares could be given and the door to partnership opened.

Some will say “but the profession will become commercialised”. Let all the shares remain with lawyers; let professional and ethical supervision rest solely with the bar. Accountants have used this right since 1989. Did they become commercialised? No, they became institutionalised.

A gown left without capital wears thin. This deserves reconsideration.