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Bar council suspends lawyer for running side-business as career coach; HC stays order

The Kerala bar council has suspended a lawyer for professional misconduct after “indulging in business activities apart from being an advocate”.

Lawyer and former IAS officer Alphons Kannanthanam had obtained a trademark as a proprietor of a “career coaching centre” while practising as a lawyer, reported The Hindu, for which the bar council’s disciplinary committee found him guilty of misconduct.

The committee held that he had “converted his proprietorship business to a private limited company and became the chairman of the company”, from which he was receiving Rs 25,000 a month as well as 15 per cent of the company’s revenues.

The committee said he should be debarred but should also be given an opportunity to stop his business within six months and continue practising as a lawyer if he desired to do so, reported The Hindu.

Update 17 November: The Kerala High Court has stayed the bar council's decision, according to a PTI report of 12 November, saying it was prima facie satisfied that the decision could not be sustained.

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