Is the Rating Council of Legal Professionals in Georgia a Fraud or Real Data?

Those of you searching for lawyers online have probably come across articles where lawyers practicing in the legal field are given the status of "Lawyer of the Year." Practicing lawyers find this council laughable. How can we be sure if this information is real, an evaluation based on facts, or simply an artificially created illegal advertising campaign that involves fraud and is also a gross violation of the Code of Ethics for Lawyers?

Lasha Janibegashvili speaks to us.

Those of you searching for lawyers online have probably encountered similar articles where the "Supreme Rating Council of Legal Professionals of Georgia" names and awards "titles." They also have a fake, unreal Facebook page with 201 followers.

According to Lasha Janibegashvili:

The Lawyers' Rating Council, "Lawyer of the Year" - these articles are commissioned. I was also offered 1500 GEL to be in the top three by a similar rating commission, which I strongly refused. Interestingly, this rating commission doesn't even exist in reality. On the website ambebi.ge, similar articles serve to deceive and mislead consumers. In my opinion, this is fraud.

Why do I consider it fraud?

Every similar piece of information on the Facebook page featured 3 lawyers, and every year this trio "won." These were mainly the well-known lawyers: P. Sh., Tariel Kakabadze, Giorgi Turazashvili, and others.

The concept of "fraud" here is that the rating disseminated by the lawyers is not based on specific facts, statistical or professional criteria, and this rating is not transparent and accessible to everyone. In that case, it can be said that such advertising by lawyers like Tariel Kakabadze and others is fraud and illegal.

The Position of the Georgian Bar Association

The Georgian Bar Association has made an official statement on this issue that no commission evaluating lawyers and jurists exists.

I got interested and investigated in detail. The phone number doesn't exist, the Facebook page of the "Rating Council of Legal Professionals" is likely bought and modified, and they also don't have an official address. Accordingly, there is uncertainty regarding these similar articles, and in my opinion, this is fraud and deception of consumers.

Personally, I have no confrontation with the named lawyers; I respect them. However, when a similar article names someone as "Lawyer of the Year" on behalf of a non-existent council, and this comes up when you search for your name and surname, as happens in the case of Tariel Kakabadze, it contains signs of fraud. Such illegal actions, especially when you are a member of the Bar Association's Executive Council and when the Ethics Commission of the Bar Association remains silent, facilitate the deception of consumers and harm the public interest.

For me, it is incomprehensible, for example, the position of Konstantine Gelashvili, who is the chairman of the Bar's Disciplinary Council. See this link [link mentioned in the original text]. The chairman of the Disciplinary Council sued a lawyer in the Disciplinary Council on the grounds that their Facebook posts were unethical. Yet, he turns a blind eye to such blatant fraud and deception of consumers. Furthermore, a government organization is listed on the page, and the email address provided is that of one of the aforementioned lawyers: [email address removed]

What is the rating council? There is uncertainty about the members of the council. It is not stated who participated and on what basis and criteria they evaluated the lawyers.

I say this when I have up to 200,000 followers. In 2020-2023, the posts on my page had an average of up to 100,000 views per day, indicating significant public interest. However, I would never allow myself to do something similar. People should evaluate lawyers and jurists based on their work and not on a fake rating that misleads the public. The chairman of the Ethics Commission of the Bar Association, Konstantine Gelashvili, is a friend of lawyer Tariel Kakabadze, and consequently, this unethical action, this disciplinary violation, is being covered up and ignored. Never have any disciplinary cases been initiated against any lawyer who is a member of the Bar Association's Executive Council or the Ethics Commission, and they remain unpunished.

Signs and Definition of Fraud

When a lawyer who is a member of the Ethics Commission commits an unethical act and remains unpunished - what are we dealing with? Fraud + this is the deliberate deception of consumers, clients, and the concealment of facts, aimed at obtaining personal financial gain and intentionally misleading others, which is legally based on deception, the spread of false information, and manipulation that leads to illegal benefits.

What happens when a lawyer commits an unethical act but is not held accountable?

⚖️ Unethical act + impunity = a systemic problem in the Bar Association. If a lawyer holds an influential position (for example, becomes a member of the Bar Association's Executive Council or the Ethics Commission), there is no reaction to their violations - a legitimate question arises:

If a lawyer who holds an influential position (for example, a member of the Executive Council or the Ethics Commission) commits an act that violates professional ethics, and there is no reaction to this - a legitimate question arises:

???? Is membership in the Bar Association's Ethics Commission or the Executive Council immunity from fraud? When a lawyer commits an unethical act and remains unpunished, do they have immunity, so to speak, because they are a member of the Executive Council or the Ethics Commission? Could we possibly be dealing with a potential fraudster?

Let me remind you of the members of the Bar Association's Ethics Commission: Chairman Konstantine Gelashvili, and members: Ana Loria, Ana Kotetishvili, Ekaterine Macharashvili, Ekaterine Getsadze, Natia Chitashvili, Inga Beridze, Besarion Bokhashvili, Sopio Sokhadze, and others. The aforementioned lawyers have immunity; these members represent the team of the Chairman of the Bar Association, lawyer Davit Asatiani, and this implies everything.