The Ways and Customs are rules of conduct aimed firstly at members of the Ordre des avocats fribourgeois. By their tenor, which was to date value as a going concern, they applied to all lawyers/attorneys practicing in the Canton of Fribourg. With the coming into effect of the Federal law on lawyers' free movement (hereafter referred to as LLCA), they remain of course applicable to members of the above-mentioned lawyers' association and will hereafter serve as an aid in interpreting the professional regulations stipulated in art. 12 LLCA, this law being applicable to all lawyers practicing in Switzerland.

The Ways and Customs regulate in a detailed manner the conduct that a lawyer must maintain in his relations with the authorities, the public, his clients and his colleagues. They constitute a code of ethics with the aim of assuring a proper functioning of the practice of law, and thus, a sound dispensing of justice where the interest of any party are fairly and validly taken into consideration. This regulation, foremost associative but of universal bearing, is of great importance for the lawyer's client who may avail himself of it and demand that the latter strictly adhere to it when a member of the Ordre des avocats fribourgeois. It contains, clarifying and detailing them, the principles rooted by the LLCA (art. 12 and 13), applicable to all lawyers practicing in Switzerland, for the discharge of their mandate with care and diligence (art. 17 and 5 of Ways and Customs), independence (art. 3 par. 2.4, par. 1, 10, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 33 and 34 of Ways and Customs) respecting attorney-client confidentiality (art. 6, 7, 17 par. 1.21 and 36 of Ways and Customs).

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