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German Court Rebukes Bar Assn. for Harassing Jewish Lawyer

October 15, 1954
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Joseph Klibansky, defense counsel for the late Philipp Auerbach and stormy petrel of the German bar, scored an unprecedented legal victory here by winning two suits against the Frankfurt Bar Association, which was in effect enjoined by the Administrative Court from further harassing him.

Last year Klibansky was sentenced for alleged violation of foreign currency regulations and for related offenses, committed in his capacity as legal adviser to the defunct “Jewish Bank” in this city. The verdict has not entered into effect because his appeal is still pending and generally is believed to have a good chance of being sustained. Nonetheless, the Bar Association sought to impose upon Klibansky professional penalties going beyond those applied in similar cases.

Klibansky, whose father headed an Orthodox boarding school here, was elected a member of the Central Council of the Agudas Israel World Organization at the recent convention in Jerusalem. A short time ago he was also confirmed, by unanimous vote, as legal adviser to the Association of Jewish Communities in Hesse.

Although no case against the Bar Association has ever been won before an Administrative Court, Klibansky brought two suits, and has now been upheld in full. The five judges administered a rebuke to the Association and instructed it to withdraw the punitive sanctions it had pronounced against Klibansky. They furthermore ordered it to bear all court costs and, since Klibansky had acted as his own counsel, to pay him an adequate fee therefore.

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