The Assembly of Southern Lawyers is calling for an independent panel to be immediately implemented to look into the appointment of senior counsel in Trinidad and Tobago.
In a statement yesterday, even as 13 attorneys were awarded senior counsel status by President Christine Kangaloo, the ASL called on the State to implement legislation to establish an independent committee to recommend Attorneys at Law to be awarded the rank of senior counsel.
It said, “When multiple attorneys at law who are career politicians were elevated to the rank of senior counsel (both today and in the past), it is prudent to have an independent panel to review the applications made and to recommend appointments based on merit so as not to cause the reasonable person to draw the conclusions that appointments were made based on political patronage whilst neglecting to recognise members of the Bar who were deserving of such as elevation.
“This is especially relevant in circumstances where senior attorneys at law with decades of practice in all of the Courts in Trinidad and Tobago and who were involved in landmark judgments are being overlooked continuously without reason and when other attorneys are appointed to the rank of senior counsel have less experience and skill than the senior attorneys who are overlooked.”
The Assembly of Southern Lawyers also noted that the Law Association, since 2012, had considered the appointment of senior counsel and produced a report called “Silk Report”. It said in 2015, the association passed a resolution that the recommendations be adopted. It was later sent to the President, Chief Justice and Attorney General at the time.
ASL said then LATT head, Reginald Armour, SC, now the Attorney General, forwarded the Silk Report to the Chief Justice and the Attorney General. A meeting with the Chief Justice, Attorney General and representatives of the Law Association was then requested. The then-president of LATT, in his letter to then-AG Faris Al-Rawi, stated that he had discussed the report with the Chief Justice, who in principle supported its recommendations.
But the ASL said to date, despite numerous efforts made by the previous LATT presidents to persuade the Government to accept and implement the recommendations of the Silk Report, no changes have been made.
The ASL said its position is that T&T should follow the UK and create an independent panel to select attorneys for the rank of senior counsel.
“The time is ripe for change. The current system allows for dubious aspersions to be cast by the public on award of senior counsel being made based on nepotism, political patronage and political bias as opposed to award being made purely on merit based on the recommendations of an independent panel.
“In Trinidad and Tobago, far too often we lag behind in implementing transparent systems in place when it is needed. At present, the following countries have a more organised system which we can aim to use as a precedent when implementing our independent panel: the United Kingdom, India, Singapore, Australia, Canada and Jamaica,” the assembly said.