Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 26/12/2025 12:11

Misconduct body misconducts itself

YOU MAY have missed it because you were busy with your ham and grog over the yuletide season. But on December 17, the Court of Appeal handed down what has to be one of the most embarrassing rulings against the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago (LATT) in that body’s history. Of all the people in the land, it should be safe to assume that lawyers – as a group of professionals – can be trusted to understand the sacrosanct requirements of due process and procedural fairness. Not so, given what was revealed in that case, which was a lawsuit brought against the association’s very own disciplinary committee, by a group of lawyers. That committee is supposed to be the one which upholds standards of the profession. But in its handling of complaints lodged by a man in 2020 against lawyers who represented him in a land dispute, it is the committee itself that failed to uphold elemental tenets. According to Chief Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh, in his ruling, “There was an absence of the structured approach to a disciplinary hearing that both the complainant and the attorneys...might have been expected to have.” The rules required a sifting process to determine whether there was a preliminary case to answer before a fuller trial on particulars. That prima facie case stage didn’t really happen. Instead, said the CJ, “The committee seemed to be engaged at the hearing in trying to understand the complaint and allowed the attorneys representing the appellants to give their views on it. “The hearing then morphed into a finding of guilt and a discussion on an appropriate penalty and then imposition of a penalty. There was no process for the complainant to particularise his complaint, give his evidence, and most importantly, to be cross examined.” Transcripts suggested no reasoning was given. Additionally, Justice of Appeal Nolan Bereaux, concurring, said the committee was “plainly wrong” and, mincing no words, claimed, “The chairman did not proceed with care. Indeed, his approach was almost cavalier.” Extraordinary are such findings against any committee composed of lawyers; even more extraordinary are such findings in relation to the Law Association, the statutory law profession body, and its disciplinary committee, whose membership at the time comprised one “silk,” one former independent senator and several longstanding attorneys. The case may well be appealed by all. For now, the body in charge of dealing with legal misconduct has been found guilty of legal misconduct. We can think of few things more shambolic in our republic. We are used to questions being asked about standards within the Police Service. For good reason, too, judges are well-scrutinised, from CJs to Masters. But what does it say when ordinary lawyers, among those most at the frontline of law and order, cannot even regulate themselves properly – or in keeping with the very laws they are sworn to uphold. The post Misconduct body misconducts itself appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.