(2) willful disobedience or violation of an order of the district court requiring him to do or forbear an act connected with or in the course of his profession, which he ought in good faith to do or forbear, and violation of the oath taken by him, or of his duties as attorney;

(3) corruptly or willfully and without authority appearing as attorney for a party to an action or proceeding;

(4) lending his name to be used as attorney by another person who is not an attorney;

(5) commission of any act involving moral turpitude, dishonesty, or corruption, whether committed in the course of his relations as an attorney or otherwise, and whether or not it constitutes a crime; and if the act constitutes a crime, conviction thereof in a criminal proceeding is not a condition precedent to disbarment or suspension from practice therefor.

§ 546. Proceedings for removal, suspension or discipline generally

The proceedings to remove or suspend an attorney pursuant to section 545 (1) of this title shall be taken by the district court on the receipt of a certified copy of the record of conviction. The proceedings pursuant to any other paragraph of section 545 of this title may be taken by the court for the matters within its knowledge, or may be taken upon the information of another.

8547. Accusation

If the proceedings are upon the information of another, the accusation shall be in writing and shall state the matters charged, verified by the oath of some person to the effect that the charges therein contained are true. The verification may be made upon information and belief when the accusation is presented by an organized bar association.

8548. Service on accused; citation by publication

(a) Upon receiving the accusation, the district court shall make an order requiring the accused to appear and answer it at a specified time, and shall cause a copy of the order and of the accusation to be served upon the accused at least five days before the day appointed in the order.

(b) The court may direct the service of a citation to the accused, requiring him to appear and answer the accusation, to be made by publication for 30 days in a newspaper of general circulation in the Canal Zone, if it appears by affidavit to the satisfaction of the court that the accused:

or

(1) resides out of the Canal Zone:

(2) has departed from the Canal Zone;

(3) can not, after diligence, be found within the Canal Zone;

(4) conceals himself to avoid the service of the order to show

cause.

(c) The citation shall be directed to the accused, recite the date of the filing of the accusation, the name of the accuser, and the general nature of the charges against him, and require him to appear and answer the accusation at a specified time.

(d) On proof of the publication of the citation as required by this section, the court has jurisdiction to proceed to hear the accusation and render judgment with like effect as if an order to show cause and a copy of the accusation had been personally served on the accused.

§ 549. Appearance

The accused shall appear at the time appointed in the order, and answer the accusation, unless, for sufficient cause, the court assigns another day for that purpose. If he does not appear, the court may proceed and determine the accusation in his absence.

§ 550. Answer

The accused may answer to the accusation either by objecting to its sufficiency or by denying it.

If he objects to the sufficiency of the accusation, the objection must be in writing, but need not be in any specific form. It is sufficient if it presents intelligibly the grounds of the objection.

If he denies the accusation, the denial may be oral and without oath, and shall be entered upon the minutes.

If an objection to the sufficiency of the accusation is not sustained, the accused shall answer within the time designated by the court.

§ 551. Trial

If the accused pleads guilty, or refuses to answer the accusation, the court shall proceed to judgment.

If he denies the matters charged, the court shall, at such time as it appoints, proceed to try the accusation.

§ 552. Reference to take depositions

The court may order a reference to a committee to take depositions in the matter.

§ 553. Judgment

(a) Upon the receipt of a certified copy of the record of conviction of an attorney of a crime involving moral turpitude, the district court shall suspend the attorney until judgment in the case has become final. When judgment of conviction becomes final the court shall order the attorney suspended or disbarred.

(b) When the attorney has been found guilty of the charges made in proceedings not based upon a record of conviction, judgment shall be rendered disbarring him, suspending him from practice for a limited time, or otherwise disciplining him, according to the gravity of the offense charged.

(c) During a suspension or disbarment the attorney shall be precluded from practicing as an attorney at law or as an attorney or agent of another in and before all courts, commissions, and tribunals in the Canal Zone, and from practicing as attorney at law in any manner and from holding himself out to the public as an attorney at law. When disbarred his name shall be struck from the roll of attorneys.

§ 554. Disqualified attorney as plaintiff

During a suspension or disbarment, a person who has been an attorney may not appear on his own behalf as plaintiff in the prosecution of an action where the subject of the action has been assigned to him subsequent to the entry of the judgment of suspension or disbarment. § 555. Reinstatement of suspended or disbarred attorneys

The district court may reinstate suspended or disbarred attorneys in accordance with such rules governing the procedures there for as it prescribes.

Subchapter II-Powers and Duties of Attorneys

§ 571. Who may conduct litigation

In either the district court or magistrates' courts, a person may conduct his litigation personally or by the aid of an attorney admitted to the practice of law in the Canal Zone. Other attorneys who are admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States, or in the highest court of a State or any foreign country, and who are in good standing in that court, may be permitted to prosecute or defend in an action on motion of an attorney admitted to practice in the Canal Zone.

§ 572. Duties generally

Every attorney shall:

(1) support the laws of the Canal Zone and the applicable laws of the United States;

(2) maintain the respect due to the courts of justice and judicial officers;

(3) counsel or maintain such actions, proceedings, or defenses only as appear to him legal or just, except the defense of a person charged with a public offense;

(4) employ, for the purpose of maintaining the causes confided to him, such means only as are consistent with truth, and never seek to mislead the judge or any judicial officer by an artifice or false statement of fact or law;

(5) maintain inviolate the confidence, and at every peril to himself, preserve the secrets, of his client;

(6) abstain from all offensive personality, and advance no fact prejudicial to the honor or reputation of a party or witness, unless required by the justice of the cause with which he is charged; (7) not encourage either the commencement or the continuance of an action or proceeding from any corrupt motive of passion or interest; and

(8) never reject, for any consideration personal to himself, the cause of the defenseless or the oppressed.

§ 573. Authority

An attorney may:

(1) bind his client in any of the steps of an action or proceeding by his agreement filed with the clerk, or entered upon the minutes of the court, and not otherwise; and

(2) receive money claimed by his client in an action or proceeding during the pendency thereof, or after judgment, unless a revocation of his authority is filed, and upon the payment thereof, and not otherwise, discharge the claim or acknowledge satisfaction of the judgment.

§ 574. Change of attorney; consent; contingent fee cases (a) The attorney in an action or special proceeding may be changed before or after judgment or final determination:

(1) upon consent of both client and attorney, filed with the clerk, or entered upon the minutes; or

(2) upon the order of the court, upon the application of either client or attorney, after notice from one to the other.

(b) When, under paragraph (2) of subsection (a) of this section, an attorney is changed in a civil case in which the fee or compensation of the attorney is contingent upon the recovery of money, the court shall determine the amount and terms of payment of the fee or compensation to be paid by the party.

§ 575. Notice of change

When an attorney is changed, as provided in section 574 of this title, written notice of the change and of the substitution of a new attorney, or of the appearance of the party in person, shall be given to the adverse party. Until then, he shall recognize the former attorney. 8576. Death or removal of attorney

When an attorney dies, or is removed or suspended, or ceases to act as such, a party to an action for whom he was acting as attorney, must, before any further proceedings are had against him, be required by the adverse party, by written notice, to appoint another attorney, or to appear in person.

§ 577. Reasonable compensation; contract for services

An attorney is not entitled to have and recover from his client more than a reasonable compensation for the services rendered, having in view the importance of the subject matter of the controversy, the extent of the services rendered, and the professional standing of the attorney. In such cases the court is not bound by the opinion of attorneys as expert witnesses as to the proper compensation, and may disregard the testimony and base its conclusion on its own professional knowledge. A written contract for services controls the amount of recovery if found by the court not to be unconscionable or unreasonable.