Unruly attorneys ...

Disrespecting the Bar and the Bench while ignoring law-school ethics

Arthur Hall, Senior News Editor

A seeming increase in the number of lawyers in trouble with the law in recent time has prompted fresh concerns about the ethical anchor of those in the legal profession. Radio talk shows regularly field calls from members of the public questioning the action of some attorneys.

But officials of the Norman Manley Law School say they are doing their best to ensure that lawyers in training graduate with a moral compass, while the increase in reports does not necessarily mean that a greater percentage of lawyers are misbehaving.

"You are going to have more complaints because the profession has expanded, but the increased number of complaints does not necessarily mean a greater percentage of complaints," head of the Council of Legal Education, Jacqueline Samuels-Brown, told a recent Gleaner Editors' Forum.

"We are satisfied that the training we provide in ethics is comprehensive and in-depth.

"I can tell you that I am aware that there have been ethical breaches by graduates of the Norman Manley Law School, as well as I am aware that there are ethical breaches by persons who never faced the door of the ... law school," added Samuels-Brown.

NO FAULT OF SCHOOL

She was supported by principal of the law school, Carol Aina, who argued that the unethical behaviour of some graduates is no fault of the prestigious institution.

"Ethics is pervasive in the law school. In fact, one of the reforms that we did over the years, ethics used to be a first-year course and we moved it to second year because we want our graduates to exit with it at the forefront of their minds," Aina told Gleaner reporters and editors.

"Ethics is pervasive in everything we teach but, of course, we have adults as learners. We are taking in to the law school people from our society and we do our very best with what we teach ... we are not only about teaching them to think like a lawyer and perform like a lawyer but how to act like a lawyer," added Aina.

CAN'T TEACH HONESTY

That was a position shared by president of the Jamaican Bar Association and lecturer at the law school, Ian Wilkinson.

"When you get a student at 20 or 30 years old who is set in their ways, you can't teach them to be honest, that person is either going to be honest or not," said Wilkinson.

"I say to the graduates when I give speeches, 'I shouldn't tell you to be honest. If I have to tell you to be honest there is already a problem'," added Wilkinson.

He argued that the law school, with its ethics programmes, has improved the quality of local lawyers by spotting potential offenders from early and causing them to have a second thought.

"We at the Bar monitor lawyers ... and there are some people we talk to at different times."

That monitoring is very important to the law school, and Aina said lawyers in their first three years after being called to the Bar must attend a number of courses, including ethics and client management.

"You can teach people ethics but you can't control their morals or their own sense of responsibility," quipped Samuels-Brown as she endorsed Aina.