By ArretJatta
The National Assembly on Tuesday considered the Legal Practitioners 2022 with amendments at the National Assembly in Banjul.
The bill comprises seventeen clauses and four were amended.
The objective and reasons for the bill are that it seeks to empower the Council to establish such panel of Disciplinary Committee which shall consist of a Judge of the High Court, a State Law Officer of not below the rank of a Principal State Counsel and a Legal Practitioner of at least ten years standing as opposed to what currently exists. This would allow for flexibility in the sitting of the Committee to immediately deal with issues brought before it.
The Bill also seeks to properly address the issues of professional misconduct of Legal Practitioners, Legal Education, Legal Aid, and Pupilage.
Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Hon Dawda A. A. Jallow said currently, it is nearly impossible for the Disciplinary Committee to sit and hear complaints brought before it due to the composition of its membership. As a result, the Committee is inundated with its statutory roles.
“Also, it is difficult for some members of the society to afford the service of a Legal Practitioner because of their poor financial condition. And
“Again, society has high hopes on Legal Practitioners to represent them in various capacities and thus the profession needs to be well regulated for effective and careful service delivery,” he explained.
