Refrain from commenting on pending cases - Justice Brobbey to Lawyers
A retired Supreme Court Judge, Justice S. A. Brobbey, has advised lawyers to refrain from commenting on cases pending in court and issues they do not have adequate knowledge about in the media and described the practice as unethical.
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He said the modus operandi of some lawyers rushing to the media on pending cases and judgements that might or might not have gone in their favour was against the ethics of the legal profession.
“It is not part of the Anglo-Saxon tradition that operates in our part of the world. Don’t indulge in trumpeting; don’t indulge in running to the press; it is not the tradition of the Bar,” he said.
Justice Brobbey gave the advice in Accra on Monday at the first-ever orientation seminar organised by the Ghana School of Law (GSL) for graduating law students expected to be called to the bar on Friday.
Truthfulness and circumspection
He wondered why lawyers rushed to the media after winning or losing cases instead of reflecting on their own delivery in court.
Justice Brobbey told the prospective lawyers to be truthful to the courts in order to advance the administration of justice, and added that they must be circumspect in their dealings with their clients and the society.
He said as new lawyers, enormous responsibility was imposed on them by the society and urged them to be the voices to the voiceless and champions of the cause of the under-privileged in society.
Ethics
A lecturer at the GSL, Nana Kegya Appiah-Adu, also advised the graduating law students to be disciplined and adhere to the ethics of the profession.
She said the General Legal Council was determined to strictly enforce its code of ethics and so any lawyer caught in the web of indiscipline or misconduct would not be spared.
According to her, the names of some lawyers had been struck out of the roll of lawyers due to indiscipline and misconduct.
Mrs Appiah-Adu urged the aspiring lawyers to preserve the dignity and nobility of the legal profession and also see their call to the bar as a new beginning of, and not an end to learning.
She said law was dynamic and so they should keep abreast of new developments in the profession.
Essence of orientation
The orientation seminar for the graduating law students is the brainchild of the Director of the GSL, Mr Kwasi Prempeh-Eck, with the view to exposing the aspiring lawyers to the world of legal practice even before they are called to the bar.
The orientation, together with a new legal training regime that requires newly enrolled lawyers to undergo six months pupillage with established legal firms, is designed to well-groom trainee lawyers for legal practice.
Mr Prempeh-Eck, who is also the Director of Legal Education, expressed the hope that the orientation seminar would be very beneficial to the Law Class of 2014.
Topics
Topics lined up for the seminar, included, “Beyond the classroom: Starting a career in law”, “Professional excellence in the changing phase of law practice”, “Overview of industrial relations in Ghana”, “Basic management and leadership course”, “entrepreneurship development” and “planning for old age”.
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