About Us

Background

The Board was officially established in 1992 under the Legal Profession Act 1976 and now DB has been around for 14 years. The first Honourable Chairman of the Disciplinary Board was Tan Sri Dato’ Eusoff B. Chin. He chaired the first Board Meeting which was held on 16.10.1993. Since then there have been 164 Board Meetings held.

As laid down under section 93 of the Legal Profession Act, 1976 (“The Act”) the Disciplinary Board comprises the following:-

Chairman of the Disciplinary Board appointed by the Chief Judge (Malaya);
President of the Bar Council with the Vice-President as his alternate; and
15 practitioner members of not less than 15 years’ standing appointed by the Chief Judge (Malaya).

All advocates & solicitors of the High Court of Malaya and pupil in chambers shall for the purposes of all disciplinary actions are subjected to the control of the Disciplinary Board unless they have been struck off.

Function

The Disciplinary Board plays a very important role as an adjudicatory body that has the power to decide as to whether an advocate and solicitor has breached a particular provision of the Act or the Rules made thereunder or any Rulings of the Bar Council (see “types of misconduct” under Jurisdiction). However, the Disciplinary Board does not have the power to deal with negligence cases or recovery of damages.