In a pivotal deal with to the bench and bar, Barbados’ Chief Justice Sir Patterson Cheltenham emphasised the crucial want to forestall disbarred attorneys from resuming their authorized practices beneath new guises.
Throughout his ultimate deal with on this capability, Sir Patterson highlighted the crucial of bolstering laws to place an finish to this troubling observe.
Swift and unambiguous disbarment
Sir Patterson firmly asserted that the place individuals are discovered responsible of misconduct, are disbarred, they can’t be ready to supply their expertise to members of the general public.
The Chief Justice expressed his concern over people who’ve been disbarred adopting new identities and persevering with to supply authorized providers to the general public.
Authorized career invoice to handle the problem
To sort out this problem head-on, Sir Patterson revealed that the forthcoming Authorized Career Invoice would deal with this problem comprehensively. Concurrently, he underscored the urgent must overhaul the legal professional disciplinary system.
Revamping the disciplinary framework
Sir Patterson harassed the need of an entire overhaul of the disciplinary framework for attorneys-at-law, emphasizing that the present system had outlived its utility.
He advocated for a mannequin that might swiftly deal with each consumer and legal professional complaints.
He identified that key parts of this revamp would come with a considerable alteration within the composition of the disciplinary physique and its chairman.
He referred to as for the supply of satisfactory assets to make sure the physique might perform systematically and successfully.
Sir Patterson made these remarks in the course of the official opening of the 2023-2024 authorized 12 months on the No. 1 Supreme Court docket.
Challenges within the authorized system
Throughout his wide-ranging speech, Sir Patterson acknowledged the persistent challenges throughout the island’s authorized system.
Whereas some points are already within the technique of being addressed, he emphasised the urgency of discovering options to others.
One space he highlighted was the necessity for laws to facilitate judge-alone trials.
This transfer was seen as vital to beat the difficulties of securing jurors for the rising variety of legal courts.
Personnel assets and judicial help
Sir Patterson additionally emphasised the necessity to increase personnel assets throughout varied departments and advocated for every choose to have a devoted judicial assistant, citing inefficiencies within the present system the place one assistant serves a number of judges.
He additionally referred to as for the institution of a Public Defenders Unit to reinforce the authorized protection system.
Property administration
Addressing property administration points, Sir Patterson acknowledged long-standing complaints from each attorneys and the general public.
He talked about the completion of a guide audit of all information from 2011 to the current, with plans to share an in depth record of excellent points with the Barbados Bar Affiliation.
Highlighting Barbados’ subpar success fee in mediation in comparison with worldwide benchmarks, Sir Patterson referred to as for renewed efforts on this essential space.
He proposed dedicating a flooring on the Henry Forde and David Simmons Authorized and Judicial Advanced to various dispute decision, injecting contemporary vitality into this important side of the authorized system.