The symbolic fusion of the legal branches was a proud moment for all those in attendance at the No.1 Home Circuit Court. All attorneys are now members of one body, with an equal opportunity to display their talents and share their expertise.

Published: Saturday, January 8, 1972

Fusion of legal profession hailed in High Court

FUSION of both branches of the legal profession in Jamaica was given official recognition by the High Court yesterday as judges of Appeal and of the Supreme Court met in a special sitting to hail what has been described as the “most historic event in our country’s legal history”.

Former barrister and solicitors, now attorneys-at-law, heard speeches welcoming the new era from the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, the Hon. Victor Grant, Q.C.; the president of the Jamaica Bar association and Chairman of the General Regal Council Mr Lease. Mr Robinson, Q.C.; Mr J.L.R. Bovell, president of the Incorporated Law Society of Jamaica; and acting Chief Justice, Sir Cyril Henriques.

The No. 1 Home Circuit Court was packed to capacity for the occasion and perhaps as a last salute to the old custom, the registrar of the Supreme Court, the registrar of the Court of Appeal, and the deputy registrars of both courts were adorned in their wigs.

On the Bench were the acting Chief Justice, Sir Cyril Henriques; the acting president of the Court of Appeal, Sir Joseph Luckhoo; Mr Justice Fox, Mr Justice Smith, Mr Justice Edun, Mr Justice Graham-Perkins, and Mr Justice Hercules (acting); Mr Justice Henry, Mr Justice Grannum, Mr Justice Robotham, Mr Justice Chambers, Mr Justice Lopez, Mr Justice Wilkie, Mr Justice Marsh (acting), Mr V.K.G. McCarthy, Master in Chambers; and the Custos of Kingston, the Hon. Dr Aubrey McFarlane.

The ceremony followed the official opening of the Hilary Session of the Home Circuit Court.

Following is the text of the attorney general’s speech:

“My Lords, fellow attorneys, it is very fitting that we should be gathered here to mark the occasion of the actual fusion of the legal profession in Jamaica. This is a most historic event in our country’s legal history and one which, I hope, will herald the beginning of a new era in the practice of law in Jamaica.

“The immediate result of this change, of course, is that all attorneys are now members of one huge family, with an equal opportunity to display to the fullest those talents best suited to each. No longer will those of you who formerly were solicitors be precluded from practising in the High Court or being appointed to the High Court Bench, and I personally am looking forward to witnessing great things from those who, under the old system, were unable to display these powers. Similarly, too, the business needs of Jamaica will profit greatly from former members of the Bar who chose to practice in the commercial world and who will become associated with some of the legal firms of Duke Street.

“Fusion has brought with it a change in court dress for appearance in the High Court, and there will be many who welcome this change. It is a decision which has been made having regard to local conditions of the country, and as an independent nation with a mind of our own, we welcome it.

“The Legal Profession Act has introduced into our legal system a bold innovation, which I believe will mark the beginning of a new relationship in this country between poor persons and their attorneys. Thus, a poor person who might not even have considered taking legal action when this should be taken, will, in all probability, now do so as a result of Section 21 of the act. In such a situation, the attorney may now undertake work without payment from his client if he considers the case to have merit, such attorney becoming entitled to his fee out of the amount awarded as damaged.

"The client will be safeguarded from an excessive charge in that if in any suit for the recovery of the fee, the agreement between an attorney and his clients appears to the court to be unfair and unreasonable, the court may reduce the amount to be payable under such agreement. At this stage, I would like to pay public tribute to the chief legal draughtsman who satisfied us greatly at all stages of our deliberations.

Mere greeting

“Members of the legal profession, this speech is not meant to be a long treatise on the subject of fusion, but a mere greeting to you all on this historic occasion. Therefore, in closing, I wish everyone of you good luck and prosperity, and I welcome you as members to the great family of attorneys-at-law for Jamaica, and I trust that the fusing together of barristers and solicitors will rebound to the great benefit of the people of Jamaica and to the further adornment of legal science.”

The acting chief justice spoke as follows:

“It is fitting that at the commencement of the Hilary Sessions of the Court we should take note of an epoch-making event in the history of the legal profession in Jamaica.

"I refer to the enactment of the Legal Profession Act, 1971 which came into force on Monday last, January 3, which, by its provisions, have fused the two branches of the profession which had hitherto existed almost from time immemorial in Jamaica.

"Little did I contemplate when I first stood in this very courtroom, to me 35 years ago, that I would be witnessing, much less participating in, a ceremony such as is now being enacted. Much water has flown under the legal bridge since those days. Times have changed and circumstances, no doubt, have arisen which have guided those that rule us to bring about this tremendous change. Much effort and a great deal of preparation have gone into the production of this newly born implant, and one looks forward with eager anticipation to its subsequent growth and maturity. Hitherto, practitioners belonged to one or other of the two branches, the Bar or the Solicitors Branch, sometimes disdainfully referred to by members of the Bar as the lower branch.

"But today there is no lower branch or higher branch. There is only one tree. This tree will not grow by itself. It has to be tended and nourished so that it can flourish and so enhance the good of the nation. No legislative enactment, however well-intentioned, can bring about such a result. Only those engaged in it by dint of hard work and constant, unremitting care can hope to achieve this.

Highest ideals

“It is true it is born of professions with high ideals and noble traditions, and these must always be reflected in the conduct and demeanour of those engaged in the practice of the law. We should always regard ourselves as privileged to be servants of the law and partners in the administration of justice. Deeply embedded in the heart of every Jamaican is a passion for justice and fair play.

“We must be on our guard ever to live up to the expectations of our countrymen. I do not think that we could have been granted any nobler task. Let us see to it that those who are entitled to look to us for protection and refuge are not forsaken or disappointed.

"Let the occasion never arise for any chief justice of Jamaica to have to say recently the Chief Justice of the United States Mid to the legal profession of that country: "With passing time, I am developing a deep conviction as to the necessity for civility if we are to keep the jangle from doling, in on us and taking over all that the hand and brain of man has created in a thousand years by way of rational discourse and in deliberative protest, including the trial of cases in the courts.

"Yet all too often, overzealous advocates seem to think the zeal and effectiveness of a lawyer depends on how thoroughly they can disrupt the proceedings, how loud they can shout, and how close he can come to insulting all those he encounters, including the judges.

"Civility is to the courtroom and adversary process what antiseptic is to a hospital. The best medical brains cannot outwit soiled linen or dirty scalpels, and the best legal skills cannot either justify or offset bad manners. With all deference, I submit that lawyers who know how to think but have not yet learned how to behave are a menace and a liability, not an asset, to the administration of justice.”

Rigorous powers

He ended thus: "We must make some basic decisions in terms of allocating the responsibility for regulating what is inherently a contentious profession and then place rigorous powers of discipline where we place the responsibility. Lawyers, judges, and law professors must see that an undisciplined and unregulated profession will destroy itself, will fail in its mission, and will not restore public confidence in the profession.

"I would like to say a few words of special welcome to members of the former Solicitors Branch of the profession in these courts. I expect them to exhibit the characteristics shown in the past by many members of their former profession in the role of advocates in the lower courts.

"I have the most vivid recollection of remarkable performances by such solicitors as Hal Lake, Harry Dayes, and Neville Ashenheim, whose agility of mind and brilliance of advocacy gave me a most worrying though invigorating time on the Bench as a resident magistrate.

"You know we on this side feel ourselves very much in the role of officiating clergymen at a wedding. We are witnesses to the fusion or union of two bodies. I hope that neither body, however, will seek to achieve the position postulated by Lord Eldon, a former lord chancellor of England, when he remarked in a case before him 'Man and wife are one, and that one is the husband'.

"As in most marriages, there will be the necessity for a period of adjustment. Difficulties will arise, problems will occur, but if these are approached in a spirit of goodwill and a fundamental desire to make the system work at all costs, they should be quickly and smoothly  ironed out.

Highest ideals

"Evolve for yourselves the highest canons of ethics and codes of professional conduct. Strive always after the highest ideals. You may not always achieve them, but you will find lasting satisfaction in the effort.

"May I assure you on behalf of all the judges that you have our utmost good wishes for a successful voyage. My brethren and I pledged ourselves to give you the maximum cooperation in making the new system the success we hope it will be.

"May we in the future have every reason and cause to look back to January 3, 1972, as a red-letter day in the calendar of the history of the legal profession of Jamaica.

 This special sitting of the court now stands adjourned.

In his speech, Mr Robinson said that on January 3 last, over 600 members of the profession were enrolled as attorneys-at-law in Jamaica. Some had previously practiced as both.

It was that fact and perhaps the resentment of one branch of the profession at what was regarded as the steady and ever-increasing encroachments into the conclusive preserves of others that  provoked the clamour for fusion. "If those who had clamoured' loudest, said he. had had their way. fusion would have taken place long ago for what was being urged was instant fusion like instant coffee." Robinson shared

Robinson mentioned the fact that we now have a Faculty of Law at the university in addition to the provision for professional law schools in Jamaica and Trinidad ready to receive the first graduates from the Faculty of Law or practical professional trading by the middle of next year, and he said this was due in no small measure to "those of us" who maintained that there should be no fusion until proper facilities designed to meet the needs and requirements of our own country had been provided for the training of our future lawyers. He said that it was safe to say that the 'future lawyer in Jamaica will be far better equipped to start the practice of law in his native land than any of us can claim to have been in the past".

Because of that, he said, he could today say, "I now welcome fusion.”

Litigation

Bovell, in his speech, said that without an atmosphere conducive to the administration of justice, it could not flourish, and he listed the conditions under which the judges of all the courts served, not only a  proper salary scale in order to attract men of the highest levels but also accommodation and other amenities, proper staffing, additional judges to ensure swift justice, the respect which the Bar, all authority and the public had to show to the courts.

The speaker said it was a matter of the utmost importance that the affairs of the courts, litigation, be conducted in an atmosphere that had the respect of the public, but he said it "'was the duty of the court itself to ensure that respect'.

The legal profession, he said, had a very heavy day in seeing to the proper administration of justice, and on behalf of those who were formerly solicitors, now attorneys-at-law, Mr Bovell pledged support.

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