65It is true that the concept of a lawyer’s ‘independence’ was initially developed in the context of document confidentiality in competition matters; the case-law, referred to in paragraphs 53 and 63 of the order under appeal, specified in that regard that a lawyer is an officer of the court called upon to provide, in the overriding interests of justice, legal assistance to the client (see, to that effect, judgments of 18 May 1982, AM & S Europe v Commission, 155/79, EU:C:1982:157, paragraph 24, and of 14 September 2010, Akzo Nobel Chemicals and Akcros Chemicals v Commission and Others, C‑550/07 P, EU:C:2010:512, paragraph 42). It must nevertheless be noted that the meaning of that concept has evolved in the matter of representation before the Courts of the European Union, the predominant criterion applied in that regard now being the protection and defence of the interests of the client, in line with the law and professional rules and codes of conduct (see, to that effect, judgment of 4 February 2020, Uniwersytet Wrocławski and Poland v REA, C‑515/17 P and C‑561/17 P, EU:C:2020:73, paragraph 62).
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