Investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni has criticized the directive by the Chief Justice, Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, to judges for cases of senior lawyers to be called first.
In a series of posts on his social media handle, Manasseh contended that longevity at the bar should not be used to determine the brilliance of lawyers.
He said fair play must be allowed if the intention of the Chief Justice’s directive was to raise standards at the bar.
In his view, standards are lowered when meritocracy is sacrificed for the “me baaha aky3” syndrome.
The award-winning journalists maintained that the directive by the Chief Justice does not make sense, and flies in the face of equality before the law.
“This directive is backward. It doesn’t make sense. It is retrogressive. It’s unproductive.
“Are you saying judges should stop giving time to people who appear in their courts? Or they can give time and disregard them if senior lawyers are present at the time they are supposed to call the case involving a junior lawyer?
“Please, revise this. It amounts to injustice. Where is the so-called equality before the law? Psychologically, are you not placing more weight on the cases handled by senior lawyers than those handled by their juniors?,” Manasseh posted on his Facebook page.
“Some lawyers with 5 years at the bar are more brilliant than some lawyers with 30 years at the bar. Stop the bullying,” he added in another post.
Chief Justice, Kwasi Anin-Yeboah in a recent circular directed judges to call cases of senior lawyers first.
He explained that the age-long practice is to afford junior lawyers the opportunity to learn from the senior lawyers.
Below is the circular:
To all trial court judges:
Observing age-old traditions of the BAR in calling cases in court
The Legal Profession, as we know, is steeped in traditions and ceremonies.
One of the traditions observed is the practice of calling cases of persons whose names are on the roll of Lawyers, in order of seniority of enrolment, notwithstanding the notion of equality at the Bar.
This practice, among other benefits, affords the young Lawyer the opportunity to learn from Seniors to whom they would not ordinarily be exposed to; thus, enriching the whole legal training experience beyond what is taught in Chambers and other places of work.
It has recently been drawn to my attention, that some Trial Court Judges are not observing this practice in court.
Whilst the right to call a case out of turn is not absolute and is exercisable subject to the convenience of the court, for the reasons mentioned above, I would request all Trial Court Judges to strictly adhere to this age-old tradition and resort to inviting applications from Seniors first.
I hope I can count on your cooperation.
ghanaweb.com