At the end of my second year of internship at the bar, I had already acquired a certain level of knowledge and experience, allowing me to practice with increasing confidence. I was becoming more and more known and consulted by clients of various nationalities and backgrounds. My internship supervisor informed me that, given the growing number of my own clients, she could no longer consider me a full-time intern.

She intended to cut my salary by half, which I found reasonable on her part. I was aware that I was becoming less productive in her cases, which saddened me. Her decision to reduce my salary was a relief for me. During this period, when I was no longer working full-time for my supervisor, I received a phone call from a gentleman who explained that a friend of his had just been arrested at Brussels Airport; he needed me to defend his interests. I suggested that he come to the office to open a file for his friend and pay a retainer.

This client appeared an hour later in front of the office and asked to speak to me. The secretary called me and told me that a gentleman was waiting for me. The client was a North African man accompanied by a young Western woman. The client told me his name was Abdel, and the woman with him was his girlfriend, named Cynthia. The couple explained that the person arrested at the airport was Abdel’s friend. He had been arrested coming from the Dominican Republic in possession of seven kilos of cocaine.

This was the first time I received a client involved in a drug trafficking case. Abdel said he wanted me to locate his friend and visit him in prison to offer my services and assure him that Abdel and all his other friends would do everything necessary to support him.

The couple paid a retainer for the case and gave me all their friend’s details. I promised to locate their friend and contact them to inform them of which prison he was in. I would then arrange to visit him in prison and offer to defend his interests.

After seeing off the couple, I called the airport police to inquire about Abdel’s friend’s arrest. The inspector entered the data I had provided into his computer system and informed me a few seconds later that the person in question had been transferred to Antwerp prison. I thanked him for this information and hung up. I then called Abdel to tell him I had located his friend, who was in Antwerp prison.

Abdel asked if he could come back to the office since he was still in the neighborhood. With Cynthia, they returned to the office and asked when I planned to visit their friend in prison, as they wanted me to deliver a very important message. Abdel asked me to tell his friend that all their friends were aware of what had happened and that it was very important for him to remain calm and not say anything to the police.

The message Abdel asked me to convey to his friend made me think he was working for a criminal organization, but I had no proof. I also did not want to ask him questions about certain inconsistencies I had noticed in his speech, as I was only supposed to visit his friend without any obligation to defend him. I thought that after talking with the prisoner, I would decide whether to continue defending his interests or not.

I then went to the prison and met the client. He was a Belgian man. He was blond and had an innocent look. Seeing him, I thought he had probably been seduced by ill-intentioned people. I conveyed Abdel’s message, assuring him that Abdel and his other friends had promised to take care of him. He explained the circumstances of his arrest and handed me a copy of the police report of his interrogation, asking me to communicate it to Abdel.

I understood that he wanted his friends to know what he had told the police. He wanted to be transparent to reassure his friends and avoid suspicion of collaborating with investigators. After visiting the prisoner, I returned to the office and called Abdel, inviting him to see me the next afternoon. I needed to convey the message the imprisoned client had sent him. Abdel came to the appointment with Cynthia. They were very curious about what the client had said. I explained that he insisted I tell them what he had declared to the police.

After giving them the details of his statement as the client had recommended, I told Abdel and Cynthia that I would do what was necessary to defend their friend. Three days after this meeting with Abdel and Cynthia, something incredible happened; I thought the devil had entered my life and started a work of destruction. I arrived at the office that day at nine o’clock, sat at my desk, and started by checking my agenda as usual. I then picked up the file I planned to work on when I heard the doorbell ring.

Since I was alone that morning, I opened the door. I was surprised to see nearly ten people, including the president of the bar association, an investigating judge, a prosecutor, an assistant prosecutor, and several plainclothes police officers. The investigating judge immediately informed me that he had a search warrant and that I needed to lead them to my office. For a moment, I thought I was dreaming, but unfortunately, I was indeed living one of the most terrible episodes of my life. I struggled to keep my balance, feeling like I could faint at any moment.

Considering the number of people present, I gradually realized the magnitude and seriousness of the situation; I was truly in serious trouble. When we entered my office and I saw the investigating judge hastily handling the files, I told him that if he was looking for something specific, he only needed to ask me; I could give it to him directly, and the office wouldn’t end up turned upside down. He opened his mouth and mentioned the name of the young man for whom Abdel and Cynthia had contacted me. I went directly to the cabinet where the file in question was located and handed it to him. He quickly opened it while the president of the bar association signaled for him to pass the file so he could be the first to look at it.

The procedure for searching a lawyer’s office requires that the president of the bar association, who attends the search, be the first to examine any document the investigating judge or prosecutor wishes to review. The investigating judge in my office clearly had no intention of following these rules. While the judge examined the file, the police surrounded me as if to prevent me from escaping.

The other magistrates, as well as the president of the bar association, also leaned over the file, scrutinizing it closely. I remember that at one point, my cell phone rang. I wanted to answer when I heard the investigating judge authoritatively forbid me from doing so. He also informed me that my cell phone was now subject to seizure for investigation purposes.

While we were still in my office, my supervisor arrived at the office, along with a few other lawyers from the firm. They quickly understood that I was in serious trouble, but I had no way of speaking to them and explaining what was happening. Everyone was watching, but no one knew exactly what was going on. All they could imagine was that I was surely not the person they thought they knew. I was afraid they would think I was dishonest, willing to break the law to make money.

After examining the file he still held in his hands, the investigating judge informed me that I was deprived of liberty and would be taken to his office for questioning. One of the police officers wanted to handcuff me when the president of the bar association asked the investigating judge if handcuffs were necessary in my case. The investigating judge thought for a few seconds, then told the officer he could leave the handcuffs.

We all left together, and I was escorted into the vehicle that was to take me to the investigating judge’s office. I sat in the back, between two police officers, while a third occupied the front passenger seat, and the other drove. Once we arrived at his office, the investigating judge informed me that I was suspected of being part of a criminal organization and violating professional secrecy.

The judge told me that the public prosecutor had intercepted a phone conversation between my client’s parents and an unidentified person who was trying to reassure them by saying their son was well defended by the organization’s lawyer. The investigating judge asked me to explain how I had obtained the contact of the young man who was in prison. I explained to the judge how Abdel had contacted me, presenting himself as a friend of this young man.

I reassured him by specifying that, apart from Abdel and Cynthia, no one had contacted me about this boy. After listening to me attentively, the investigating judge probably noticed the coherent and very plausible nature of my statements. He decided to suspend the questioning for a while. He had me escorted out by the police and asked me to wait for a while. After about thirty minutes, the investigating judge called me back into his office to continue the questioning. He started by telling me I could be reassured because he would not put me in preventive detention.

Indeed, there was new information in my file, and the criminal organization charge was no longer part of the charges he intended to retain against me. He said that during the suspension of my questioning, he had asked inspectors to question Cynthia and Abdel, who were arrested and incarcerated, if I knew anyone in their criminal organization. Both had responded negatively.

The judge told me that Abdel and Cynthia had, however, declared that I had told them what the young man had said to the police during his arrest. I told the investigating judge that I acknowledged telling Abdel and Cynthia what the young man had said to the police, but I did it at his request. The investigating judge had me sign my statement, after which I regained my freedom while waiting for the investigation to conclude to find out if I would be prosecuted for violating professional secrecy.

I was very relieved to regain my freedom, as I could have ended up in prison because of an investigating judge who had not taken the time to question Abdel and Cynthia before deciding to search my office and deprive me of liberty. He had come to humiliate me at my workplace based on a phone conversation in which my name was not even mentioned. I have always wondered why he did not first check my version before making me live through such an ordeal. Did he have something against me? Did he want to undermine my professional credibility? Was he just clumsy? Did he want to give himself a reason to exist? These are questions that still cross my mind.

I knew that other magistrates who accompanied him during the search probably also had questions, and I wondered what their opinion of me was. I wondered what the president of the bar association had in mind when he observed the unfolding scene. The head of the Brussels bar association never gave me any explanation. He certainly did not owe me any.

Since my office was raided, and I was questioned in the presence of several people, I was on everyone’s lips. I also knew that in our profession, when something is not clear, there is always a tendency to lend oneself to speculation. However, despite the difficulty of my situation, I knew that I should not expect anything from anyone and that it was up to me to get out of it. Indeed, having reached this stage, it was more than ever time for me to take charge and tell myself that nothing would happen if I did not make the necessary efforts.

While waiting to know my fate, I did not let myself be distracted; I concentrated on my cases and continued working as if nothing had happened. Time passed, and fortunately for me, I received an order for a dismissal of charges for violation of professional secrecy. I felt very relieved because it was the end of a period of tension and uncertainty.

Now that this episode is behind me, I sometimes tell myself that in the end, it was just a misunderstanding. Indeed, without the intercepted conversation, the investigating judge would never have thought of coming to search my office and question me. His methods were certainly surprising and rough, but I could see that he had no personal problem with me. My relations with the investigating judge were not excellent, but over time I noticed that I had no other choice but to work with him like all other lawyers.

He sometimes called me to ask for information about one of my clients or a case, and I always gave him the answers he expected because I no longer wanted to have any problems with him. I tell myself that the difficulties we had gone through at the beginning of our relationship had the advantage of bringing us closer to some extent because he realized that I was a reasonable person. He was also convinced that I had the necessary skills to work as a lawyer. As a result, he no longer asked me too many questions; he trusted me and sometimes even recommended me to people looking for a lawyer…

This text is an extract from the book “FROM GHETTO TO BAR” written by Dominique MBOG.

We invite you to read the following article “Without Recourse or Help”.

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