A High Court judge yesterday advised a group of new lawyers to be mindful of their social media posts which he said may affect their future in the legal profession.This was the advice of Justice Malcolm Holdip, as he addressed a group of 80 new lawyers who were called to the Bar during a ceremony at the Convocation Hall, Hall of Justice, Knox Street, Port-of-Spain, yesterday.
Holdip said: "Private and profession lives are inextricably linked. You have a single life's journey within a world where social media and Facebook has ensnared all of us."He asked the new lawyers to pay attention to their posts and photos being uploaded on the Internet, as they may be examined by their potential employers, who now require copies of their social media pages on their resumes.
"The word privacy is now becoming old English and soon to be extinct, as we are being inflicted with the disease of overexposure and lack of discernment and we, as keepers of the law, are charged with enforcing parameters in this conservative profession."He said the pillars of the legal profession are honesty, integrity and ethics and that they should be observed absolutely in order to preserve the nobility of the profession.
Yesterday's call to the Bar was the largest ever in the judiciary's history, with 165 lawyers being admitted. Due to space constraints at the Hall of Justice, the procedure had to be split into two events yesterday, with one being held in the morning and the other in the afternoon.
While addressing the new lawyers and their relatives, Holdip advised them to practise with dignity and courtesy. He encouraged them to raise objections in court in instances of "perceived unfairness or unjudicial behaviour" but warned them not to be too aggressive."The right to object strongly and forcefully must never be understood as conferring or embracing a right to be rude or offensive."
Holdip explained that as part of their new profession, they should engage in non-profit initiatives and organisations to "advance the interests of the disadvantaged.""Always remain skeptical about the relationship between law and justice. Too often law serves power at the expense of the vulnerable. Legal rules too often reinforce class divisions and bolster the privileged," Holdip said.
Chief Justice Ivor Archie also spoke briefly during the ceremony and, like Holdip, he advised the new lawyers to always consider the rights of the disadvantaged over the need for financial gain."Commitment to service has largely been overtaken by greed and simply profit. How the society will develop as we move forward in the next several years will depend on what attitude you take to the responsibility that is being placed on you," he said.
Archie said it was an exciting time to be a lawyer because of reform within the judiciary and also because the practice of law was expanding to areas it did not exist before.
