MONTREAL - A savage assault on a high-profile Montreal defence attorney last week was denounced by his fellow lawyers, who are calling it an attack on the justice system.

Gilles Dore, a veteran lawyer who has represented biker gang members among his many clients over the years, was badly beaten in the affluent Outremont borough on Friday.

Montreal police detectives met with the 58-year-old man in his hospital room over the weekend, but spokesman Raphael Bergeron said Monday there has been no developments in the case.

Dore is recovering from the attack.

Meanwhile, Dore's shocked colleagues are trying to come to grips with the attack -- the second against a local defence lawyer in the last year.

Richard Prihoda, president of the Defence Attorneys Association of Montreal, calls the act completely unacceptable under any circumstances.

Prihoda said in an interview that if the attack is found to be related to Dore's work, then it is more than just an assault.

"It's not just an attack on one lawyer, it's an attack on the whole judicial system," Prihoda said.

"As with the Crown prosecutors and the judges, we're a part of the system."

Dore is currently involved in a massive Hells Angels megatrial being held in Montreal. He was also a lawyer who figured prominently in similar megatrials nearly a decade ago in 2002.

Dore is due before the Supreme Court of Canada soon. He is attempting to overturn a lower-court decision that upheld a 21-day suspension he was given by the Quebec Bar Association during that earlier megatrial.

The suspension was over a critical letter Dore sent to a Quebec judge over comments that judge made at the bail hearing of one of his clients.

Dore's letter caused the megatrial to end in July 2002 when the judge abruptly quit.

Another Montreal defence lawyer, Joseph La Leggia, was attacked in similar fashion last December near his home.

He has since resumed practising law.

Another Montreal lawyer, Thomas Kiriazis, who is not a defence lawyer, has also been targeted.

The business lawyer says he has been the victim of death threats and a firebombing in front of his home, located in the same neighbourhood where Dore was attacked.

Prihoda said the association will discuss the recent attack, at a previously scheduled meeting on Wednesday.

"I went to the courthouse today (Monday) and everybody is asking questions," Prihoda said.

Prihoda said he hopes that police can resolve both outstanding cases.