Beirut Bar Association's role: Legal advocacy in Port Explosion and banking crisis

In addition to its unionist role in defending lawyers' rights, the Beirut Bar Association actively monitors public freedoms and people's rights cases.

Here are some key issues the association has tackled in recent years.

In the aftermath of the Beirut port explosion, the Beirut Bar Association formed a committee of lawyers tasked with filing approximately 1400 criminal complaints before the Special Prosecutor's Office on behalf of the victims and those affected by the blast.

The committee also successfully brought the port explosion case to the UK Supreme Court, which issued a judicial ruling against the shipping company "SAVARO," responsible for transporting the ammonium nitrate shipment to Lebanon, leading to the port explosion.

The court decided to proceed with the second phase of the trial to determine the compensation owed to the victims.

Addressing the depositors' case, the Beirut Bar Association established a committee to defend their rights, formulating two legal drafts. The first draft pertains to capital control, while the second focuses on restructuring banks.

Legal actions were taken against certain banks for halting payments, and appeals were filed before the State Council against circulars from the Banque du Liban (BDL) and decisions by the Cabinet that discriminated between deposits.

The Beirut Bar Association rejected the judges' strike, considering it a violation of constitutional provisions and justice requirements, disrupting the functioning of the judicial public service.

However, it supported the financial demands of the judges to safeguard their independence.