The General Legal Council (GLC) is being hauled over the coals over its “unconscionable” policy of withholding the practising certificates of senior lawyers who are said to be facing “extreme” challenges in completing its Continuing Legal Professional Development (CLPD) programmes.
Without the certificate, the lawyers cannot legally conduct private practice in Jamaica, forcing several, attorney-at-law Olive Gardner has argued, to lose income.
Gardner, a Britain-born Jamaican, is challenging the council to implement exemptions for attorneys 70 years and older who, she said, continue to fall short of the requirement because they lack the technical know-how.
Some of the classes for the programmes are online-based.
“What are you going to teach a man who has been practising for 50 years? It’s ridiculous. They have paid for their certificates but can’t get them.
“At 70, they have paid their dues. Do not let it be mandatory for them,” Gardner, who is more than 15 years their junior, argued in a Gleaner interview on Tuesday.
The GLC is the statutory body with the mandate, under Section 3 of the Legal Profession Act, to organise legal education and uphold standards of professional conduct.
Some 180 attorneys are listed on its website as failing to renew their practising certificates.
It is unclear how many lawyers are 70 or older, but Gardner is lobbying other colleagues to pressure the GLC for the exemption.
“I live it, and I see it daily in the courts. My colleagues are physically challenged. They can’t manage, and when you practise at the private Bar in Jamaica, you have to build a pension. They have to continue because they have no pension,” she insisted.
Gardner noted that there are several senior lawyers who are members of the GLC. She said for them to “blatantly disregard” the plight of their senior colleagues is a serious indictment on the legal profession.
Furthermore, in a May 20 letter to the GLC, the attorney argued that many lawyers have paid for the practising certificates, but have not been received any for several years.
“To my mind, the withholding of practising certificates which have been paid for by members of the Bar is unconscionable in every respect,” the letter read.
She said if the GLC does not intend to issue the certificates paid for by the attorneys, they should not take their money.
The cost for the certificate is approximately $43,000. It is doubled when attorneys fail to pay on or before February 28 of each year.
Gardner said that since the introduction of the CLPD in 2013, there has been chaos and confusion within the legal profession.
Attorney-at-law Nelton Forsythe has backed Gardner’s advocacy, noting that after decades of practising, senior attorneys should be exempted from the programmes.
“In truth, these classes are for young lawyers. Lawyers at 50 and 60 years should not be asked to do these programmes,” Forsythe told The Gleaner.
He said the practice by the GLC is a way to make money.
But chairman of the GLC, Queen’s Counsel Denise Kitson, has indicated that the policy will not change.
In an emailed response to The Gleaner, Kitson said that the CLPD requirement was introduced by statute in 2012.
“There is no exemption for attorneys over the age of 70 years. They, like any other attorney who holds himself out to the public as able to deliver appropriate legal services, must comply with the provisions of the regulations initiated in 2013,” Kitson asserted.
It is by these provisions the GLC ensures that attorneys who seek a practising certificate are educated in recent developments in the law, while settled principles are reinforced.
She said as a result, on a continuing basis, better-trained professionals are available to the public.
Kitson said that the regulations provide several ways of meeting the requirements, pointing out that attorneys may themselves give talks on legal topics; tutor legal courses or provide coaching or mentoring sessions; write articles on substantive legal topics; and participate on committees that promote or regulate the profession.
She said that they can also attend physical seminars.
The GLC chair said compliance is, therefore, not limited to participating in online webinars offered by a number of accredited providers, although such presentations are easily accessed and may be watched over a period.
“A link is provided by email to the attorney, who must watch the entire webinar to obtain the code words given throughout the presentation to ensure participation. These codes are either entered by the attorney online, or written by the attorney on a form which may be scanned and emailed or delivered physically to the offices of the provider.
“Every attorney is capable of learning something new and should, if he or she wishes to practise, be willing to keep abreast with developments in the law,” Kitson said.