Lancaster University launches Law Week
The Lancaster University Ghana has launched its Law Week with a call on the students corps of the legal training institutions to aim at protecting, upholding and vindicating the justice system.
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A Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Joseph B. Akamba, who made the call at the launch, said in spite of the challenges the judicial system had faced in recent times, there was still hope in the new generation of lawyers to restore its dignity through their attitude and abilities.
He, therefore, urged the students in the legal field to develop high ethical standards and genuine love for justice delivery.
The Lancaster University Ghana Law Week organised by the Law Society of the University is intended for the students to reflect on the legal system of the country.
Themed “In the pursuit of justice” the celebration is also to provide a platform to discuss the state of justice system in the country.
In line with that a symposium would be organised as part of the activities to mark week.
As part of the activities to mark the week, the students would visit the Nsawam Prisons to familiarise themselves with the prisons and to have first-hand evidence of the result of their works.
Pursuing justice
In pursuit of justice, Justice Akamba said lawyers must diligently serve the court, while they defended their clients, adding that in pursing justice, winning cases was not all that matters.
“While a lawyer must strive to do what is in their client’s best interest always, the lawyer must never forget that he or she is actually an officer of the court and in that capacity, it is his or her job not to bend the rules out of shape or abuse the process just to advance the cause-however- unworthy of a client.
“A lawyer who focuses not on pursing justice but on winning cases will end up aggressively pushing some very unjust causes.
“You may win the cases and become famous for being unbeatable, but you will have done the justice system and your own people a great disservice when you help undeserving people get away with their objectionable acts and leave bad precedent to entrap innocent souls” Justice Akamba said.
He debunked the attitude of some lawyers who absented themselves from the court when they had appointment, those who continually seek adjournment, and those who did not assist the court with authorities saying it did not do any justice to the client.
“They undermine the efficacy and efficiency of the system at large. This in turn leads to a diminishing of the public’s confidence in the justice system and with it your livelihood,” he said.
The Programme Coordinator of the Law Department of the University, Maame Mensa-Bonsu, said the Law Week was instituted last year to reflect on the justice system of Ghana.
As lawyers, she said, the pursuit of justice was instrumental and it was to the benefit of the fundamental core good in sustainable community in which the welfare of the people was guaranteed.
