Dear Editor,
Prominent Kingston-based attorney-at-law Peter Champagnie, in a letter to the editor published in the Daily Observer edition of Monday, April 6, 2015, eruditely wrote relating to the many lawyers who are being accused and charged for breaches of the law in relation to allegations of them stealing and/or misappropriating their clients' monies, which should be cause for much concern within the Jamaican society and the legal profession.
Lawyers are supposed to consistently adhere to the highest forms of professional honesty, standards and legal principles, and their conduct must be above board for they occupy eminent positions in the country based on the roles which they perform from a legal standpoint and as officers of the court.
The Jamaican Bar Association, Advocates Association of Jamaica, and General Legal Council must be very firm and uncompromising as it relates to lawyers who flout the law and must take a zero-tolerance approach towards them all. The council should begin to give harsh fines and penalities to lawyers who breach the various tenets of the profession and law, and let it be understood that any lawyer who rampantly flouts the law will face stiff penalities for those breaches. Lawyers who are charged for criminal offences, prosecuted and brought before the courts immensely embarrass the legal profession, and they should face the full force of the law and be sentenced to prison terms for such corrupt acts.
During the noted judicial tenure of Marlene Malahoo-Forte as a resident magistrate, she oftentimes publicly scolded many lawyers for not being professional and responsible with the type of legal representation that they are providing to their clients and of the imperative need for them to be professional, honest and efficient in serving their clients which they represent in court. At that time she did not tolerate any form of unprofessional legal conduct by lawyers who appeared before her in the court, and we need more judges in this country to reprimand lawyers who are not representing their clients professionally, effectively and responsibly.
I implore the esteemed president of the Jamaican Bar Association, Donovan Walker, to continue to point out to its members of the paramount need for them, at all times, to fearlessly uphold the canons of the legal profession and conduct themselves in a manner that will get the wide respect of the Jamaican society. Far too many lawyers are now being charged for various forms and categories of criminal conduct. This is unacceptable, cause for public concern and must be thoroughly discussed within the public domain and legal profession.
Robert Dalley
St James
robertdalley1@hotmail.com
Lock up attorneys who breach the law
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Prominent Kingston-based attorney-at-law Peter Champagnie, in a letter to the editor published in the Daily Observer edition of Monday, April 6, 2015, eruditely wrote relating to the many lawyers who are being accused and charged for breaches of the law in relation to allegations of them stealing and/or misappropriating their clients' monies, which should be cause for much concern within the Jamaican society and the legal profession.
Lawyers are supposed to consistently adhere to the highest forms of professional honesty, standards and legal principles, and their conduct must be above board for they occupy eminent positions in the country based on the roles which they perform from a legal standpoint and as officers of the court.
The Jamaican Bar Association, Advocates Association of Jamaica, and General Legal Council must be very firm and uncompromising as it relates to lawyers who flout the law and must take a zero-tolerance approach towards them all. The council should begin to give harsh fines and penalities to lawyers who breach the various tenets of the profession and law, and let it be understood that any lawyer who rampantly flouts the law will face stiff penalities for those breaches. Lawyers who are charged for criminal offences, prosecuted and brought before the courts immensely embarrass the legal profession, and they should face the full force of the law and be sentenced to prison terms for such corrupt acts.
During the noted judicial tenure of Marlene Malahoo-Forte as a resident magistrate, she oftentimes publicly scolded many lawyers for not being professional and responsible with the type of legal representation that they are providing to their clients and of the imperative need for them to be professional, honest and efficient in serving their clients which they represent in court. At that time she did not tolerate any form of unprofessional legal conduct by lawyers who appeared before her in the court, and we need more judges in this country to reprimand lawyers who are not representing their clients professionally, effectively and responsibly.
I implore the esteemed president of the Jamaican Bar Association, Donovan Walker, to continue to point out to its members of the paramount need for them, at all times, to fearlessly uphold the canons of the legal profession and conduct themselves in a manner that will get the wide respect of the Jamaican society. Far too many lawyers are now being charged for various forms and categories of criminal conduct. This is unacceptable, cause for public concern and must be thoroughly discussed within the public domain and legal profession.
Robert Dalley
St James
robertdalley1@hotmail.com
Lock up attorneys who breach the law
-->