And she urged fellow attorneys to launch a full investigation into “rogue lawyers” who were bringing the Bahamas into disrepute.
Elizabeth Thompson’s plea came after a website called “Gangster Profile” made alarming allegations against specific Bahamian lawyers – and urged would-be foreign investors to take their money elsewhere.
Circulating the website to friends and associates, Ms Thompson said: “Oh my God. Has anyone in a government position seen this? This needs national attention.”
The website alleges that corruption in the legal profession is so rampant that it is destroying the Bahamas.
And it accuses the government of anti-foreign, and specifically anti-white, attitudes.
Ms Thompson, the former registrar-general of the Bahamas who now works as a sole practitioner, told The Tribune, “I am concerned about this and I think it needs, to be addressed nationally. We need to deal with it.
“Behind the venom, there is some truth. Now we need to separate the truth from the fiction and face up to it. And the initiative needs to come from the Bar Association itself.”
Ms Thompson, who runs EM Thompson and Co., said she and other Nassau attorneys were troubled by what some of her clients called “the high level of corruption” in the legal profession.
She admitted there were “rogue attorneys” who acted in an unscrupulous way. And she claimed the profession needed not just “an image consultant” but also a real willingness to address some of the problems honestly.
“The truth needs to be dealt with and we Bahamians are not very good at dealing with the truth,” she added.
Ms Thompson said she was one of those attorneys who conduct their practice with due regard for professional ethics. But ‘Gangster Profile’ made disturbing accusations against other lawyers which needed to be dealt with, she said.
Ms Thompson said there were undoubtedly people “out there” who felt hard done by in their dealings with Bahamian lawyers.
Now it needed a joint effort by concerned attorneys to put matters right. “We need to start a debate and even have a town meeting on the matter,” said Ms Thompson.
She feared foreign investment could be suffering in the face of such negative publicity.
The website, which portrays the Bahamas as a lawless, corrupt and evil nation, claims that aggrieved foreign investors have no redress through the country’s legal and judicial system.
Source: The Tribune
