The Almarian Bar Association met in closed session at its Almaria Vella chambers yesterday to discuss the ethical obligations of members who practise across the border in a neighbouring jurisdiction which has lately enacted sweeping legislation criminalising same-sex conduct. Several Almarian-trained defence attorneys have found themselves in a professional position that the Association's senior advocates describe as uncomfortable and, in some readings, untenable.

Senior advocate Reyes Montfort, emerging from the chambers, described the situation as 'a test of our profession's moral spine.' The Ministry of Justice declined to comment on whether formal guidance would be issued.

The Herald notes that the Almarian constitutional settlement offers the relevant protections within the kingdom; the question before the Bar is the narrower and harder one of what an Almarian advocate owes a foreign client under a foreign statute that an Almarian court would not recognise.