No single profession attracts the ire of Barbadians like lawyers. On a daily basis For example, we often hear complaints about lawyers taking unreasonably long periods of time to transfer monies from clients accounts to their clients. The complaints come from Barbadians living overseas who having entrusted life long savings (pensions) to lawyers to settle various transactions in absentia or Barbadians on the rock who have no choice but to take on the stress of the legal system to process routine transactions.
The Bar Association (BA) has done little to assuage the concerns by Barbadians that it is an efficient self regulating body. Suggestions to include ordinary folks on the BA’s Disciplinary Committee has not met with a favourable response. There is a sense lawyers and by extension the legal system has the country in a vice grip headlock. Where are ordinary citizens to turn for justice if the Court System, its trusted officers (lawyers) and the BA continue to NOT satisfactorily resolve concerns from citizenry?
BU accepts bad apples are to be found in all professions – doctors, engineers, construction class, bankers and the list is very long. However, what cannot be denied is the ‘omnipresence’ nature of the legal profession on our little society. What cannot be denies is the right of Barbadians to assign priority to issues affecting them as they think fit. The time for citizens, ordinary and others, to fight back.
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Steupsss!!
This comment from the AG characterizes the ridiculous process that has been ongoing in the House of Assembly of Jokers for the past weeks.
-We elect ‘LEADERS’ to represent OUR collective interests.
-THEY appoint officials to do the work
-Then the parade the people that THEY appointed in public, to take the licks for the shiite that is ongoing.
Standard management practice is that those with ultimate responsibility step forward to accept, and deal with WEAKNESSES, while sorting out their internal inefficiencies in private.
Instead we have these jokers looking to grab the spotlight with every idiotic, knee-jerk, ‘initiative’, only to blame the friends & family that THEY appointed when the shit hits the fan.
But brass bowls like that kinda thing, so Bushie is just observing….
@Bush Tea
Explain yourself!
You want Mottley and her AG (Executive) to pursue a dictatorial approach as it pertains to lawyers being intimidated to hold lazy judges (Judiciary) accountable?
RU4Real David?
You REALLY think that it is the duty of the Bar Club to enforce proper performance on their members who are employed by the crown?
Boss, the ONLY interest of the Bar is to protect their professional status and to ensure that no kind of audit of client fees EVER occurs bout here, and to ensure that the bar remains ’solid’…
It is the role of the damn ADMINISTRATION (ie the Ministry, PS, AG, and ultimate the PM) to ensure that proper management practices and RESULTS are obtained for the salaries paid.
You had better have ANOTHER look at the MPH video about Singapore….
It is actually simply a matter of setting MINIMUM performance STANDARDS and enforcing them. (Check out what a ‘meritocracy’ means).
The idea that adding more lazy, unsupervised judges to the pool of non-performers would do ANYTHING except increase the Mercedes Benz fleet was always laughable….
@Bush Tea
Good luck with having lawmakers who are made up of many lawyers be agents for change.
@Bush Tea
This article will interest you.
Source: Nation
Good morning Boss…
No interest really…
Ralph Jemmott writes as if this is some kind on anomaly, when he HAS to know that this shiite is endemic.
It is precisely because we all PRETEND that things are generally OK that such wickedness prevails.
Why is Jemmott not calling DAILY, for those shiite lawyers to be subjected to annual audits of their clients accounts, with the results to be published publicly, .. just like they publish financial statements of public companies and banks that hold customer funds?
Why is Jemmott not calling on the FSC to apply their anti money laundering rules to these damn lawyers – just like they do to little people like vendors who want to open a small bank account?
Perhaps (??) like some others who will not be mentioned here, Jemmott has some legal ‘connections’ and wants to avoid their wrath… 🙂
Lotta shiite…. A fake attempt at ‘righteous indignation’ by Jemmott …in Bushie’s humble (or perhaps not-so-humble) opinion… LOL
@Bush Tea
Jemmott is not of my time – perhaps yours LOL – but you are aware many of our esteemed lawyers attended schools with sought after school ties. Would a teacher of such men be inclined to advocate what you suggested? Barbados is a small and clannish society. You are astute enough to complete the blogmaster’s thought.
Touché
Right on all counts.
LOL
Perhaps even some level of responsibility for the status quo..?
The blogmaster reminds me of a man on a bus for which has lost its four wheels four wheels. Instead of looking at his dire situation, the man takes the time to point out the four wheel are still rolling down the highway.
Steuspe
” there are some judges who “persistently delayed decisions”,
So what you gonna do bout it willis.
remove them from the Bench. The PM and Ag knows how to do that
A great fan of Ralph Jemmott but I disagree with the following.
” Laws can and must be passed that prevent the monies from the sale of a client’s estate being deposited in any lawyers’ account and if such monies are paid, the same must by law be paid into the client’s account within a very constricted period of time, under penalty of the severest censure. What is so difficult about that?”
New laws for the same crooked lawyers will not solve this problem. The solution is to separate the lawyer from the vast bulk of the client funds from the very start.
Here is the solution:
1. A serious, detailed and HONEST estimate is made of the lawyers fees.
2. The lawyer is paid his fees.
3. The remainder minus a suitable small portion is paid to the client. That small portion is then used to settle any outstanding balances.
4. All transactions should be completed in a short time.
Basically, at the settling, there should be a cheque for the lawyer, a cheque for the client and perhaps a third cheque to settle ‘outstanding’ fees (someone can work out the third cheque bit, I am not being paid). T
The lawyer’s and the client’s monies need to be separated at the settling.
Comments are welcome.
There is an even simpler solution.
All Lawyers SHALL maintain one or more escrow accounts ONLY for Clients Funds.
On completion of settlements, the lawyer SHALL instruct the payer to
– Disburse the client’s portion of the settlement directly to the client and the lawyer’s fees directly to the lawyer
OR
– Deposit ALL funds received to their Escrow account wherein the client SHALL be notified in writing of their funds availability for collection no later than 5 working days after the funds have cleared.
A bit disappointed with RJ’s article. Calling for new laws and not fully addressing the elephant in the room. He addressed the rear end – the crooked lawyers.
He ignored the crooked judges and the farcical crooked justice system that spits on victims that comes before it.
Nothing will change until bloggers grow a pair. Sitting in a stalled bus, commenting on the wipers and watching two of the wheels rolling down the road is now the national pastime
https://youtu.be/e_04ZrNroTo
@ Theo
The truth is that knee jerk ‘solutions’ like demanding separate cheques may not be the solution either.
Serious issues can arise when, say an insurance company writes a payout cheque to an individual – only to have someone else crawl out of the woodwork to claim THEIR just part of payout.
Most companies will not expose themselves to that possibility, NOR pay the cost of the research and due diligence needed to do so.
THAT IS THE VALUE THAT LAWYERS ARE MEANT TO BRING TO THE PROCESS.
The VERY simple solution is to enforce the VERY SAME laws that apply to OTHER professions who hold client’s money such as banks, insurance companies etc.. (and who would be inclined to misuse those funds too – except for the consequences)
ANNUAL AUDITS and public review of results.
(although Bushie admits that we have this at the very highest level with the Auditor General and yet the process is frustrated by the political/lawyer fraternity who are able to frustrate the needed consequences)
In reality, the ultimate answer was enunciated by EWB some years ago when he proposed that all lawyers be given a free cruise …in a leaky boat… in rough seas…
If I may (in layman speak) offer a few remarks…
1st… when I read Mr Jemmont’s remarks I copied the same section that I then saw had caught @Theo’s attention … I had, however, a diametrical different analysis.
2nd … I also thought as the Blogmaster and @BushGriot noted that Jemmont was essentially kowtowing to a system which he perpetuated (and effectively helped build as a leading educator) and was somewhat ‘mealy-mouthed’ (even if eloquently so😎) in his initial remarks!
That said … his comments that “”Laws can and must be passed that prevent the monies from the sale of a client’s estate being deposited in any lawyers’ account and if such […] by law be paid into the client’s account within a very constricted period of time…”” is a bluntly sound doctrine that should have been done EONS ago … the reasons it has not are difficult to grasp but easy to understand (as suggested above).
Moreover, it comprehensively incorporates the other alternative suggestions with its blunt note that “such monies […] same must by law be paid into the client’s account within a very constricted period of time”.
And to @BushGriot …”when, say an insurance company writes a payout cheque to an individual – only to have someone else crawl out of the woodwork to claim THEIR just part of payout” …
… isn’t it the RESPONSIBILITY of the Insurer/Payer to ENSURE that no fraud or other misrepresentation is made regarding any payout!!
I am taken aback by the remark that “Most companies will not expose themselves to that possibility, NOR pay the cost of the research and due diligence needed to do so.” … If fraud is adjudged the burden would be on WHO was mamaguyed of course but still a great burden would initially be on the company surely!
And to your other point, if there is a “VERY simple solution [and] VERY SAME laws that apply to OTHER professions who hold client’s money” then surely it would also have been automatically applied to lawyers.
The fact that it doesn’t is many fold but surely two factors stand out.
1)_attorneys act as key agents for the client as they know very personal, in depth facts about same. As such the TRUST of client to attorney is considerable right up to the point of betrayal. That trust dependency generally DOES NOT happen with a bank or an insurance company or any other business relationship!
2)_in most civil matters (like land deals) clients do not perceive that it’s necessary to establish a contract within a contract with their attorney i.e to determine when monies MUST be paid after a transaction is completed. They should and it should be de rigueur. Just as lawyers will often demand a payment schedule (deposit prepay to start, and installments along the way) so should clients DEMAND such.
Not to suggest that it’s the fault of clients in these matters but simply stated this (swamp life) has been on going far TOOO long and as consumers we MUST enforce change by being more proactive…. to as you say exact “consequences” on these entitled lawyers.
BTW @the Blogmaster, are there no attorneys in Bim who see the upside to building a practice (lucrative too I would imagine) on the basis of servicing the many aggrieved clients like the family highlighted above.
That’s a sizeable sum ($457,000+) and using the same legal system to enforce a lien on the lawyer’s assets (surely he can’t hide eva thing) and sell property or seize bank accounts would be worthwhile.
Yes of course it means the plaintiff family are giving up monies which is already theirs but 90% (let’s say or even if only 70% is recovered) of $457K is substantially better that 0%!
It’s confusing that the family got not a penny since the judgement was lodged against this attorney …
Life can be a *itch … had this attorney suffered a mugging which left him badly handicapped or other misfortunate struck a member of his family we would be empathetic being unaware of his evil business behaviour … now knowing the above it would more be to that ‘karma’ we hear so much about!
@Dee Word
Do you mean a lawyer willing to create a niche that feeds on the dysfunction of the legal establishment?
@BT
@Dpd
Gentlemen, I have read your submission and though in principle I agree with them, my perspective remains unchanged. You see a system that can be made to work with minor fixes. But it is difficult to see how this cabal of experienced crooks would fix/enforce anything that would separate them from their client funds.
Sometimes, I wonder if this system is not working exactly how it is expected to work. Victims come to the court, they see fancy lawyering and then they get robbed three times when justice is dispensed.
1) The crooked lawyer gets to keep all of the money the money
2) They then have to pay a next (possibly just as crooked) lawyer for his her representation. Allow me to misquote Benjamin Franklin: A “Bajan’ between two lawyers is like a fish between two cats.
3) A clown in a gown utters some sweet words and send them away empty handed. A mockery, a scam, a scam, farcical junk justice.
Those who run this system and benefit from it will be reluctant to change it; and if they do, they will mouth the sweet words but continue to deliver junk justice to clients.
I read your submission, but you may have the same failing of Mr. RJ. The solution to this problem is to keep the bulk of the clients’ funds out of the hands/accounts of lawyers.
@ TheOGazerts,
You still planning to retire in Barbados ?
@Hants
Not if I can avoid it.
😊
Was planning to move in at cuhdear, but she is in hiding (I hope all is well with her), there has been invite from Donna or ‘The A guy’ and Lorenzo is not on the list) on my squatters list as I suspect his welcome would include a bullwhip and a pot of urine.
😊
So, it is either Trinidad or Florida, but I am hoping that I don’t find any flights that go past Miami.
Source: Nation
Dear Blogmaster,
Would you update your image carousel to
1. Reflect the additional names of Ernest Jackman.
2. The 2nd lawyer who recently got locked up and
3. A front view of David Bryan
David Bryan has carefully managed his online presence. No frontal image to be found.
Norman Leroy Lynch is the name you are looking for.
Did he get time?
Do you know how much?
Do you have a link?
Phillip Nicholls complainant are dead …
In a small section in today’s BT’s epaper
“Dead complainants creates challenges in case against a lawyer”.
“Nicholls is alleged to have stolen $674,172 belonging to Hazel Connor, and engaging in transactions totaling $674,172 being the proceeds of the crime between Feb 28 and October 16, 2008, but he has not yet been arraigned in High Court on these charges.”
Yesterday when the case was called the DPP said “The complainants I have a challenge with, in the sense that they are dead”.
Cases of these types are sham justice… The delay and delay until you die..
–xx–
Unrelated
It puzzles me that these lawyers have an idea that you will die before they do.
Two categories of complainant in Barbados – Reluctant or Dead
— x–
Here’s a snippet from a 2019 article
https://barbadostoday.bb/2019/04/09/reluctant-complainants/
“Neither the Barbados Bar Association (BBA) nor the police can take action against crooked lawyers if their clients who have been wronged do not come forward.
So says president of the association Liesel Weekes, who admitted that while there had been ‘talk’ of certain lawyers being dishonest, evidence had to be presented to justify those claims and to have that judicial officer punished.”
So you step forward and the system stalls and strings you along until you are dead. Then they call your name in court one of their courts after you are dead.
Judge “Theo, are you here? Calling Theo to court B. Looks as if Mr Theo does not want us to proceed with this case today, let’s postpone it”.
Court clerk “Your honor, Theo is dead”.
Judge: “Dead. He wasted my time. He should have croaked years ago.
Who is the next croaker? Oops I mean what is the next case?”
Cannot believe this. I feel like crying for some of these victims.
Forced to play the silly game where the final outcomes are robbery or death.
Sham/Scam justice.
https://barbadostoday.bb/2023/04/19/senior-judge-highlights-shortcomings-of-caribbeans-court-system/
@ Theo
Boss, you NEED to write some calypsos…
You are SWEET AS SHIITE in your articulation of the persistent shaving cream being liberally dispensed in Brassbados.
…and you make it as CLEAR as glass, what the legal degenerates are up to… even BBs such as Enuff and the others of that ilk cannot fail to get your message…
Please Theo… or should Bushie say, the ‘Mighty Gazzarts KC’… a calypso
Gov’t has scrapped titles QCs and KCs for lawyers in Bim, from now on they will be known as SCs or Senior Counsels and new members to the Inner Bar will have that designation.
A change that was long overdue.
@David, whatever became of that matter above related to ‘Flabby’ Nicholls?
It’s amusing, in a sarcastic sense, to re-read these old files and reflect on how endlessly we have debated the ‘deliberate’ state of legal dysfunction here and in the region.
On the matter of that ‘alleged’ theft of over 1/2 million $$ by Nicholls I am unclear why the executors of Ms. Connor’s estate would be unable to pursue and/or continue a new case of her missing funds and thus also why the case should ‘go away’ at her death.
When we die a ‘probate’ matter has to be done to ensure that any debts/liens/etc. are handled accordingly so from a simple lay perspective it baffles me that any outstanding credit matters would also not be handled by the estate of the deceased.
@Dee Word
It seems to be languishing in the system.
” Government has scrapped the titles of Queen’s Counsel and King’s Counsel for lawyers in Barbados, almost two years after the country broke ties with the British monarchy under which those designations were given.
But one senior attorney has suggested that a much larger issue than designations needs to be addressed.
In the Official Gazette dated September 1, it was announced that Cabinet agreed that the use of the QC and KC titles “is hereby discontinued”.
“All members of the legal profession who are currently appointed to the rank will now be known as Senior Counsel and use the post-nominals ‘SC’,” it added, noting that the new designation would apply to members of the legal profession who will be appointed to the Inner Bar in the future.”
@dpd
2008-2023
The relatives know that a next 15 years is possible and if they ‘behave’ badly they may die in 2038 or be off the NIS lift.
Why would they get on a slow track to nowhere
TheO’s Counsel (TC)
The pretense is killing me and destroying the nation.
I continued to be amazed at how some come here and pretend we have a working court.
With our court,
victimization is double;
persevering and fighting a case is seen as desiring more abuse;
mock/sham justice is the order of the day;
lawyers become orators and story tellers;
judges become blind to the victim cries
an return mock justice to victims
My advice- if you have money in your pocket put it under your bed and don’t go to a lawyer,
If you have land pray that it is not beachfront and a small piece, and if you don’t have anything … at the moment, give thanks to God..
When they set up these medical centers, try to hold on to your body parts.
These guys are smarter than the Mafia. They don’t use guns, the use the police and big books. They can make your money disappear faster and better than any magicians. Magician make quarters disappear, these guy disappear hundred of thousand of dollars
My heart cries for you.
What a true and absolutely ACCURATE account of the current dastardly state of legal affairs bout here..!!!
Have we NO shame at all?!
Such a situation is ONLY explainable by a curse such as the one Pharaoh suffered when confronted by Moses….
ANY sane leader would have let go after the damn frogs..
….and after the NIS/Radical/Four Seasons/Steel Houses/Education…..disasters…
Steupsss..
Bushie supposes that we will have to await ‘the passover…’
Surprise at the growth of NO.
I can see that he knows it.
More growth is expected
Surprise at the stunting opf dpd. No more growth is expected. Maxed out at 5ft 2in, 360 lbs
“So you step forward and the system stalls and strings you along until you are dead. Then they call your name in court one of their courts after you are dead.”
They simply postpone repeatedly and wait for you to die or help you along if the estate in question, is that wealth generating, easiest scam in the world..
..i would know nothing about any of it if i did not see it myself or had elements of it practiced on me….as weee have known for YEARS and particularly after such mentally damaging mind bending experiences and wicked practices which has absolutely nothing to do with law……..the judiciary has STALLED…DEAD STOPPED…cant function or move a step further…just like the parliament…only an INDEPTH radical and COMPLETE..surgically PRECISE overhaul and REMOVAL of ALL CULPRITS.. can fix it…no one on the island has the inclination, intelligence or capabilities..to bring forth that severing. ..or it would already be done…..this has to be handled at a much different level.
It could happen to you or someone you know.
https://www.nationnews.com/2023/09/04/ncc-takes-possession-oistins-stall/
@Hants
We need the details. What is the back story?
@ David,
While it could be cathartic to tell my personal story I have chosen to suffer in silence.
Senior Counsel title proposed for 12 more lawyers
Less than a week after the announcement that Queen’s Counsel and King’s Counsel designations would be scrapped and replaced with Senior Counsel, a proposal has been made that six attorneys, including Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams and two sitting parliamentarians, should be granted the title.
Member of Parliament for St James North Edmund Hinkson and parliamentary representative for St Michael Central Arthur Holder along with former parliamentarian Rudolph Cappy Greenidge have been selected, according to a September 4, 2023 document obtained by Barbados TODAY.
The State House document, under the title ‘Appointment of Senior Counsel’, indicates that acting on the advice of the Prime Minister, President Dame Sandra Mason had proposed to grant the honour to the listed attorneys-at-law.
The other eight identified were Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Alliston Seale, Deputy Chairman of the Employment Rights Tribunal Kathy-Ann Hamblin, Tammy Bryan, Gillian Clarke, Anika Jackson, Stephen Lashley, Angella Mitchell-Gittens, and Liesel Weekes.
(BT)
Congratulations to Alliston Seale. ‘Time definitely flies.’ I remember when he was a young RBPF recruit at the ‘Training School.’ All the best to him as he continues his journey in law enforcement.
@ David,
These forking idiots live in a dimension of their own. There obsession with titles is quite simply nauseating! Good to see that the powers that be have found a function for the anonymous, obsolete and irrelevant President Mason. How ironic we should select a president called Mason! As Bushie would argue the damn place is cursed!
” Queen’s Counsel are entitled to charge fees that are significantly higher than a junior counsel, that being an attorney who does not have “silk”, as QC’s are also referred to due to the material of their courtroom robes.
If a litigant loses a case and has to pay costs to the other side, they would typically pay more when a QC is involved as their hourly rates are more.”
Yuh HAVE to admire the TOTAL lack of SHAME in the legal profession though…
Shiite man!!
Only violent repeat criminals have worse reputations than them, ….and yet THEY run things bout here….
Now DAT is curse!!!
As Bushie would argue the damn place is cursed!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not only Bushie Boss…
Bare brass bowls bout Bubadus been begging Bushie to bring a bush bath by to bathe duh burro.
LEGAL GUIDANCE
CONSTITUTIONAL LAWYER SUGGESTS LEGISLATION TO DEAL WITH SENIOR COUNSEL TITLES; QUESTIONS SCRAPPING OF QC AND KC
By Emmanuel Joseph
A constitutional lawyer has suggested that legislation may be needed to determine which attorneys-at-law are given the title of Senior Counsel (SC), amid the debate regarding the selection of 12 lawyers for the honour.
Garth Patterson SC has also questioned on what authority Cabinet had replaced the King’s Counsel (KC) and Queen’s Counsel (QC) titles with that of SC.
He raised the issues as he and other senior attorneys interviewed separately by Barbados TODAY acknowledged that no legal or constitutional criteria exist for lawyers to qualify for the SC designation.
Their comments come a day after it was reported by this media house that acting on the advice of the Prime Minister, President
Dame Sandra Mason had proposed to grant the honour of Senior Counsel to a dozen attorneys, including a government minister, two sitting members of parliament and one former parliamentarian.
Patterson and Hal Gollop SC confirmed that selection is ultimately left to the discretion of the Prime Minister and Patterson further suggested that even the committee which makes recommendations to the Prime Minister has no legislative guidance.
“There is no legislation that supports the committee…. It is an ad hoc committee. There is no legislation to support the formation of the committee or membership of the committee. So all I can say is that the process seems to be ad hoc and the composition of the membership seems to be ad hoc,” the senior counsel said.
Asked what he would suggest to enhance the existing process, Patterson said there would first have to be a legislation framework.
“Secondly, you would have to have clear guidelines and criteria for appointments for the office of senior counsel. You would also have to have provision for independence in the process so that the committee is constituted by legislation for the expressed purpose of having responsibility for applying the criteria by legislation,” he suggested.
Patterson added that the committee should comprise a broad spectrum of society and not be “overly” political.
Gollop did not agree with his colleague that any such legislation is needed.
“There is a strong discretion in the hands of the Prime Minister. I don’t know of any other format by which they may be appointed. There used to be a custom, I believe, that you had to be a lawyer for ten years or more and you had to be a leader…a mentor of younger attorneys.
What you need is a system where you are sure that you have people who are highly qualified,” he told Barbados TODAY.
In a notice issued late Thursday, the Government Information Service confirmed that among those in the first cohort of SCs since Barbados became a republic on November 30, 2021 are Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams, Speaker of the House of Assembly Arthur Holder, government backbencher Edmund Hinkson, and former member of parliament and government minister Rudolph Cappy Greenidge.
The others are Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Alliston Seale, deputy chairman of the Employment Rights Tribunal Kathy-Ann Hamblin, former president of the Barbados Bar Association Liesel Weekes, Tammy Bryan, Gillian Clarke, Anika Jackson, Stephen Lashley, and Angella Mitchell-Gittens.
On September 1, almost two years after Barbados ditched the British monarchy as its head of state, a notice was published in the Official Gazette advising that Cabinet had agreed the titles of QC and KC – the latter which was unofficially adopted after the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September last year and her son Charles’ subsequent ascension to the throne – would be immediately discontinued.
However, Patterson contended that Cabinet did not have the authority to make that change.
“It has to be something that is done by legislation and that legislation would give that responsibility to someone. So, there is no legislation in place that governs the process.
So, it’s a mystery to me,” he declared.
Meanwhile, attorney-at-law Lalu Hanuman referred to the recent abolition of the QC and KC titles as “a paradox”.
“The paradox is that in abolishing the QC and the KC and replacing it with SC, the feudalistic colonial institution is left very much intact. It’s only those countries that follow the British system of a special category for lawyers that have this absurdity. The very concept is based on monarchical favouritism,” the outspoken lawyer said.
He was adamant that there is no place for “this colonial relic” in a genuine republic.
Last week, after the notice was published in the Official Gazette, Ralph Thorne SC suggested that any genuine reform of the system by which people are given the title must clarify whether it is based on years of service or demonstrated excellence.
“I have been around long enough to know that it has often been a system of reward rooted in particular favour related to image and stereotype. On this occasion, I remember those of worth who passed on and were denied elevation in spite of their professional, intellectual and academic merit,” he had told Barbados TODAY.
“I hope that one day the profession will have the courage to extricate itself from these false paradigms and say whether they wish to reward longevity, or whether they wish to reward excellence. The problem in assessing the latter is that it presents a return to the subjective frailties of those who are given the responsibility to evaluate. The only safe system may be that of acknowledging the virtue of longevity in the law.”
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
The blogmaster anticipated this editorial given the activity of certain blogs in recent weeks. You are welcome.
Source: Nation
Around and around we go.
Source: Nation
A short note …
If you have severalms pressing problems that are connected to each other, then attempting to solve them one at a time may not be the best approach.
As an example
“I caution, when we speak of increasing the jurisdiction of the magistrate, that is not going to help because the magistrates at the moment do not carry out their function with that backlog in mind. I challenge anyone to go after two o’clock to any magistrates’ court and see whether the magistrates are sitting. I remember the days when the magistrates’ court started at nine. No magistrates’ court starts at nine. They start at half-past nine and quarter to ten . . . . How many magistrates sit until 4 p.m.?” Sir Elliott asked.
Indeed solving one problem, may simply worsen another. We are well aware of the call for and appointment of judges to ease the backload. More judges and increasing the powers of magistrates will not solve the problem if fellow are observing a ‘four hour’ work day. We have tackled the wrong problem.
I give you this for free
(1) Try to identify as many problems as you possibly can
(2) Try to see how the problems are connected to each other
(3) Identify a segment of the problem network that you can fix without breaking creating other problems
(4) Target that segment and attempt to fix it
(5) Move to a a next segment on completion
Bear in mind that there are some problems that will need immediate attention. However, I favor a methodological approach to addressing our problems instead of pulling problems from a hat – one at a time.
There may be other methods to employ.
The problem is that the fraternity must agree.
Source: Nation
Hahaa what a joke, mockery of the justice system. It must be more than heartbreaking for Patricia. Did she not have Kings Counsel Pilgrim on her side. Cant find Mr. Fields… Lets call him Ghost Fields. Its amazing that there is not a nationwide outcry on Brass or copper Tacts. Fields is laughting at a field of idiots
Once again “High praise” for the blog master. I saw the above story on Instagram and raised it elsewhere for discussion but unlike here where no one made a comment, just one person made a comment there.
Instagram Post
“Disbarred attorney Therold O’Neal Fields owes a former 74-year-old female client more than $2.1 million. The office of the Director of Public Prosecutions is saying they can’t locate him, but the woman’s lawyer believes “authorities are not doing enough” to find him.”
I was looking to post the Instagram bit here, but I saw the blog master al ready has the story here.
Yes! Only one person in that other forum was brave enough to comment. In that den of lawyers, not a fellow said one word.
You can have mangled or false legislation, you can ask for new courts and more judges, you can stitch a constitution together, but until folks are not afraid to say that “wrong is wrong”, everything is meaningless.
Good men saying nothing is one of the reason why crooks are flourishing on the island. Will you wait until you or a family member are victims before you speak up against crooked practices? There may be no one left to hear you.
Sad news David … You cannot do it by yourself.
Source: Nation
Jesus.. this is similar to my 10/30/2023 post above.
I have bad news for everyone… Bookmark and read in 2032, it will still be relevant.
Source: Nation
Source: Nation
I am quite certain that you have already heard the story of the “Little Boy who cried wolf”. These lawyers wait around graduation time every year and make fancy speeches, promises and announce new initiatives and then disappear into the woodwork. The story have a sweet twist; the big bad wolves (lawyers) are here, but in this story the big bad wolves never disappear, The thieving and dishonesty continues.
Fool me once shame on me; fool me twice shame on me; fool me three times and I am an idiot and you know it. For quite some time they have been singing the same song and the media and the public eats it up every year. Around this time next year, just like Christmas music, you will be hearing the same old song from the lawyers.
Confession: I did not read the 3:5x bullshit postings.
I suspect that many Bajans did exactly what I did.
Boiling point will be reached at some stage.
[She said they have had “some serious problems” with Reverend Bannister “for the past three years or so”.
Their grievances concern the decline in church life, the absence of ministries such as providing hampers to the needy and a previously active youth band.]
I chose a sid. I lost all respect for some of those involved. Some huffing and puffing about criminals but no concerns for the needy.
Meanwhile the gumb-beat continues on how to treat attorneys. Please see BT’s epaper with an article titled “Keep them out”. The gist
Excerpt from BT
“Disbarred attorneys must be prevented from offering legal services to
the public “under new guises”, says Chief Justice Sir Patterson
Cheltenham.
In his last address to the Bench And Bar in that role, he said legislation
must be strengthened to end this practice.
“Where persons are found guilty of misconduct, are disbarred, they
cannot be in a position to offer their skills to members of the public.”
Every yea, one of these guys run out with a new version of their old song. Change up the lyrics just a little, call the media and announce a brand new hits.
Can we recover from what ails us?
Why must folks wait, until they are ‘exiting the building’ wit their bags of loot over their shoulder, to point out that something is wrong with our system.
Their replacement occupies the vacated position and he/she says nothing or lack ideas until it is time to leave.
effin de rumour I just hear is true, there is hope for us over 70s.