Addressing claims of some local judges being \uff93rude and discourteous\uff92 to lawyers, Mr. Munroe said recently that at times, such attitudes are used merely as a tactic to test an attorney\uffb4s sincerity in an argument.<\/P><\/p>\n
\uffa0\uff93The reality is that it is not an ego thing,\uff92 he explained. <\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93Lawyers ought not to appear before the courts concerned with ego. \uffa0The system is very simply set out. The judge is in charge of his court and the lawyer is there seeking to persuade him. And so, there is no point getting in an argument with the person you are intending to persuade.<\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93It\uffb4s like any other human relationship\uff85. Personally, the only thing I think a judge is required to do is be fair. They sit and listen to you, but they don\uffb4t have to sit and listen to you talk any old thing.\uff92<\/P><\/p>\n
Mr. Munroe\uffb4s comments follow those expressed by prominent attorney, Philip \uff93Brave\uff92 Davis during his contribution to the budget debate last Friday. <\/P><\/p>\n
At the time, the Cat Island, San Salvador and Rum Cay Member of Parliament stressed the need for some \uff93semblance of peace between the Bench and the Bar\uff92 following what he said were ongoing complaints about the abuse and insults meted out at the hands of some judges.<\/P><\/p>\n
Mr. Davis, who has been a practicing member of the Bahamas Bar for the past 30 years, said the country\uffb4s jurisprudence is the poorer today because of its resistance to criticism.<\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93Constructive criticism is always good as it permits us to take the necessary steps to make improvements for the betterment of the system,\uff92 he said. <\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93But it is my view that the judiciary has been resistant to criticism and as a result there has been an erosion of the cordiality, respect and professionalism, which should exist between the Bench and the Bar. \uff93<\/P><\/p>\n
Mr. Davis cited the example of several cases in which \uff93lawyers fell into tears following much embarrassment all dealt out in front of their clients.\uff92<\/P><\/p>\n
He said the complaints continue.<\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93This, in my view is not good at all for our system of jurisprudence. And the problem as I see it is that this type of behaviour on the part of judges will slowly erode the confidence of the public in the legal system and towards those of us who are practicing members of the profession.\uff92<\/P><\/p>\n
Mr. Davis added that the attitudes of many judges toward members of the Bar do not just remain within the confines of the courtroom, but eventually trickle into the wider community.<\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93This type of behavior is demeaning to all concerned,\uff92 he said. \uff93The justice system rests on public confidence and once this is gone, then chaos follows\uff85Without mutual respect between the Bench and Bar we will continue to ebb into the blue hole of despair.\uff92 <\/P><\/p>\n
Former Attorney General, Tennyson Wells also said last week he has heard similar complaints. \uffa0<\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93Every member of the Bar in the House (of Assembly) \uff96 excluding the former and present prime ministers \uff96 have talked to me about the way they have been treated before the Supreme Court, and in some cases, the Court of Appeal,\uff92 Mr. Wells said. <\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93And many members of the profession have said that they are dissatisfied with the way cases have been handled and the way some judges speak to them, trying to embarrass them in front of their clients and the public\uff85.If a judge doesn\uffb4t give respect to a lawyer, in time, that lawyer will not give respect to the judge. And I believe that is the point we have now reached.\uff92<\/P><\/p>\n
According to Mr. Wells, the Bar Association has reportedly resorted to calling on the Governor General to deal with \uff93unfit\uff92 persons or matters of misbehaviour.\uff92<\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93When it reaches this stage, its not good for the system,\uff92 he recently told the Bahama Journal. \uff93Too many people are now questioning whether they are actually getting justice before the courts\uff85Furthermore, I think Mr. Munroe should be careful with his statements because a lot of questionable things have happened before the courts and maybe some independent person should do an audit.\uff92<\/P><\/p>\n
But according to Mr. Munroe, people can generally make problems out of any particular issue.<\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93The thing that must be remembered is that we\uffb4re not in grade school, neither kindergarten,\uff92 the Bar Association President recently pointed out to the Bahama Journal. <\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93This isn\uffb4t a church field trip, but the administration of justice and we have rules, which we were taught when we were called to the Bar. Once you rely on those, you shouldn\uffb4t have a problem\uff85We don\uffb4t discipline judges, but lawyers. And if someone feels that they have been treated in a way that they haven\uffb4t been able to advance their case, there is a legal remedy.\uff92<\/P><\/p>\n
Attorney General Alfred Sears has also indicated that the issues will be \uff93looked into\uff92 by the relevant authorities.<\/P><\/p>\n
\uff93We have to ensure that the rule of law and those institutions that are essential to this \uff96 that we achieve the optimal respect, another core value,\uff92 he said.<\/P><\/p>\n
Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal<\/B><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Attorneys who show up to court unprepared and ‘thin-skinned’ deserve to be berated by judges, according to Bahamas Bar Association President Wayne Munroe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245470\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}