The Barbados Bar Association has proposed extensive revisions to the Legal Profession Act, including a stricter disciplinary process and a rigorous mechanism for inspecting attorneys’ client accounts, in an attempt to address the issue of attorneys embezzling from their clients more successfully.
To obtain their practice certifications, lawyers would also need to complete a required yearly training program.
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These are only a handful of the fresh ideas that the Association has put out for an updated Legal Profession Bill, which is still plagued by cases of lawyers embezzling thousands of dollars from their customers. They hope that the new regulations will take effect in the upcoming year.
The new modifications were emphasized in a news release that President Kaye Williams sent last week.
The Barbados Bar Association has been advocating for changes to the Legal Profession Bill, and if these changes are passed, attorneys will have to navigate a more stringent legislative and regulatory framework starting in 2024. The Law Reform Commission has informed the Bar Association that a draft of the revised Bill will be provided by January 2024 at the latest.
“One such proposal includes imposing pre-requisites that must be met every year in order to practice. Annual practicing certificates are currently granted ‘as a matter of course’ when the yearly fees are paid to the Supreme Court. This can no longer continue,” The organization said, emphasizing that it wouldn’t be “business as usual to obtain that certificate”.
The released statement noted, “First, it is illegal for any attorney to practice law without a practicing certificate and second, it will not be business as usual to obtain that certificate. Not only must members be subject each year to compulsory legal education training, but the Barbados Bar Association has also advocated for rigorous accounting rules that have to be met before any attorney can obtain their annual practicing certificate. Every year, client accounts must be verified and audited, and the reports certified and issued by accountants. There must be a legislative framework that not only provides for annual monitoring of client accounts, but also stiff penalties to ensure compliance,” the release stated.
It further said: “Findings of theft from clients and related misconduct destroy the reputation of not only the profession but also Barbados as a business jurisdiction. The aim of the legislative provisions is to ensure that, each and every year, clients’ funds are safe, and that clients’ accounts are in order before the issuance of a practicing certificate to an attorney. The requirement for financial probity among attorneys is essential within the legal profession and indeed a requirement for the due administration of justice.”
The association reaffirmed that the disciplinary committee was an independent entity while simultaneously announcing significant modifications to the disciplinary procedure.
“Generally, the public is not aware that, under our current legislation, the disciplinary committee is a separate body to the Bar Association. That notwithstanding, the BBA has recommended extensive changes to entirely revamp the system of discipline in terms of its governance, size, composition, and powers. One proposal is that the current system of discipline needs to be replaced with an entirely new body led by a legally trained chairman, comprising of members of the public, civic society, and retired judges. It will act as a properly funded and staffed tribunal in order to determine all complaints in a prompt, fair manner.”
The release noted: “Under the current system if an attorney is disbarred and ordered to repay, that is the end of the disciplinary process. The power to enforce the court order to repay lies with another arm of the legal system entirely. The Barbados Bar believes that the body imposing the discipline must have certain powers to ensure swifter justice for the public as well as enforcement of orders made for restitution and repayment of client funds.”
Chief Justice Sir Patterson Cheltenham only called for a change to the Legal Profession Act last month in order to provide clients whose money had been embezzled by their lawyers with quicker access to justice.
The Chief Justice noted this was a topic of “constant complaint and disappointment” both domestically and internationally, and he urged that a body should be established so that it could handle these issues more quickly while addressing recently admitted attorneys to the bar.
Cheltenham noted, “The solution to this problem, in my view, is to replace the current system of discipline with a new body led by a legally trained chairman – a retired judge is one possibility – and comprising of members of the public and legal profession. It has to be properly funded and staffed in order to evaluate all complaints made with dispatch and fairness to all involved,” as he also disclosed that a new Legal Profession Act was in draft.
