DISBARMENT

Feb 19, 2014 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

It is disappointing that a member of the Bar should suggest that the Executive President of Guyana should launch a Commission of Inquiry into the appointment of a Court of Appeal judge who was a member of the Bar in another jurisdiction and who subsequent to taking up judicial appointment in Guyana was disbarred in the foreign jurisdiction in which he originally practiced.
Anyone who is admitted to the local Bar ought at the minimum to appreciate that it would be highly improper of the President to encroach on the Judicial Service Commission in this way.
Any inquiry would have to be internal to the Judicial Service Commission, and it would be for that body and that body alone to determine if they failed in undertaking adequate due diligence. The decisions of the Judicial Commission cannot be subject to a Commission of Inquiry by the Executive arm.
The disbarment of Guyana’s latest Court of Appeal appointee is however an eye-opener in other respects. It is an eye-opener because of the allegation over which the individual was disciplined.
Many lawyers operating outside of Guyana have been disbarred. In most cases, it is because of fraud or professional misconduct. In this instance, the individual was debarred because he was said to have drafted false grounds of appeal for his client while he was in private practice outside of Guyana.
Now if drafting false grounds of appeal is the basis for disbarment, then a great many lawyers in Guyana had better watch themselves. There are many cases which local lawyers undertake knowing that they will not succeed. Yet they assure their clients that they will win the case and that they have strong grounds.
There are also instances that are deemed to be an abuse of the process of the Courts. Equally there are cases in which there seem no plausible grounds for appeal. Yet some lawyers will appeal just in order to extend the litigation process or to extract a fee from their clients.
If someone can be disbarred for filing grounds of appeal that stood little chance of success, and if this was deemed to be have brought the legal profession into disrepute, what about those instances, as mentioned above, where lawyers create a false expectation by assuring their clients that there is no case against them, only for the client to be jailed because the case against them could not be disproved. Should lawyers who create such false expectations not also be disbarred?
And what about those lawyers who having lost a case in a lower court, urge the client to appeal the verdict because they have strong grounds for an appeal? If no such strong case exists, should the concerned lawyer not also be disbarred?
What about those cases when the lawyer knows there is no case, yet makes a case for reasons other than justice? What if it is part of an attempt to delay a final ruling on a matter? Should that lawyer not also be disbarred for bringing the legal profession into disrepute?
And what about those cases where trivial matters are filed and which are deemed to be an abuse of due process? Should the responsible lawyers be disbarred?
And what about those lawyers who take clients’ fees and do not turn up? Should they not also be disbarred? In fact there is provision in the laws of Guyana for disciplinary action to be taken against such lawyers. It is not clear how many complaints of this nature have ever been brought before the competent authorities, but certainly there have not been many lawyers disbarred since independence.
And finally, what about the private transactions of lawyers? What if a lawyer misleads someone either by acts of omission of commission and as a result that person suffers grievous loss. Should disbarment follow?
This case involving the recently-appointed judge of our Court of Appeal is an eye-opener. Instead of a call for a Commission of Inquiry into the appointment of this judge, what is needed is for a Commission to be established to make recommendations as to the ethical and professional standards expected of judicial practitioners and the disciplinary action that they should face for violations of these standards.

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DISBARMENT

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