AKASH SAMA­ROO

Se­nior Re­porter

akash.sama­roo@cnc3.co.tt

At a time when the Ju­di­cia­ry is ac­tive­ly seek­ing to re­duce a back­log of cas­es, a judge told new lawyers that not every mat­ter has to go to tri­al.

Yes­ter­day 81 peo­ple were called to the bar at the Hall of Jus­tice in Port-of-Spain. Jus­tice Bet­sy-Ann Lam­bert-Pe­ter­son told the new­ly mint­ed at­tor­neys-at-law that many peo­ple will come to them seek­ing jus­tice but most prob­lems can be solved with min­i­mal le­gal in­ter­ven­tion.

“It is not in­tend­ed that every mat­ter you file ends in a tri­al. It is not in­tend­ed that every in­dict­ment ends up in in­car­cer­a­tion. If you as at­tor­neys at law are cog­nizant of this and take the time to pre­pare for each case ac­cord­ing­ly, mat­ters will flow through your le­gal prac­tice seam­less­ly, mak­ing space for the next client or next case,” she ad­vised.

Jus­tice Lam­bert-Pe­ter­son added that for mat­ters re­quir­ing lit­i­ga­tion, the Ju­di­cia­ry con­tin­ues to em­brace dig­i­tal in­no­va­tions.

“Hear­ings by elec­tron­ic means have a per­ti­nent place along­side in-per­son hear­ings. The in­creased use of tech­nol­o­gy now en­ables at­tor­neys-at-law to work re­mote­ly from home and from the of­fice. This re­duces the time spent in the dai­ly com­mute and at­tor­neys can work in a more pro­duc­tive man­ner than ever be­fore,” she ex­plained.

Jus­tice Lam­bert-Pe­ter­son al­so sought to re­mind the new at­tor­neys that the oath they took has deep mean­ing and they must live up to it. She urged them to be hon­est.

“Be guid­ed by the code of ethics of your pro­fes­sion. Rule 7 of Part A of the code of ethics re­minds, ‘the best ad­ver­tise­ment for an at­tor­ney at law is the es­tab­lish­ment of a well mer­it­ed rep­u­ta­tion, for per­son­al in­tegri­ty, ca­pac­i­ty, ded­i­ca­tion to work and fi­deli­ty to trust.’”

She al­so asked them to take time to re­flect on why they be­came lawyers in the first place.

“Do you as­pire to help oth­ers? How do you de­fine suc­cess? Do you as­pire to be wealthy? To be a house­hold name? To be a part­ner in a law firm? Or to be the so­lic­i­tor gen­er­al? the Di­rec­tor of Pub­lic Pros­e­cu­tions? A judge? A mag­is­trate? Se­nior Coun­sel? What do peo­ple in your sphere of in­flu­ence ex­pect of you now that you are a lawyer? What does your fam­i­ly or so­ci­ety at large ex­pect of you?” she asked.

Chief Jus­tice Ivor Archie re­it­er­at­ed most of what he said on Thurs­day when 79 oth­er lawyers were called to the bar. He re­mind­ed them that no mat­ter how bril­liant they be­lieve they are, they will al­ways be stu­dents of the law. He al­so sought to re­mind them that be­ing an at­tor­ney-at-law comes with a du­ty to be eth­i­cal.

Archie urged them to recog­nise the peo­ple who worked tire­less­ly be­hind the scenes to en­sure they joined the le­gal pro­fes­sion.

“Many of them may have sac­ri­ficed fi­nan­cial­ly, as­sumed an un­even bur­den of child­care or giv­en oth­er tan­gi­ble sup­port to make your dream come true. Al­ways re­mem­ber you owe them a debt and the so­ci­ety which has brought you to this point. You did not achieve this on your own. They de­serve con­grat­u­la­tions too,” he said.

In the two bar ad­mis­sion cer­e­monies held on Thurs­day and yes­ter­day, 160 peo­ple joined the le­gal pro­fes­sion as at­tor­neys-at-law.