Africa-Press – Liberia. Rennie said, the essence of going to Court is to get relief, and if said relief cannot be acquired because of the lack of legal representation, then access to justice cannot be realized.
The president of Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA) Cllr. Sylvester D. Rennie, has lamented about the absence of public defense, who are lawyers representing poor people accused of committing both felonious and non-felonious crimes across the country from the Magisterial Courts.
Cllr. Rennie says the ” Bar also takes cognizance that the recall of Public Defenders from the Magisterial Courts has also increased the presence of quacks, who are posing to party litigants as lawyers around those Courts.
” They make representations in Court as next of kin; and when these cases go on appeal to the Circuit Courts; they are limited and not qualified to represent the party litigant because they are not lawyers, thereby depriving the ordinary party litigant of their right to appeal. ” Cllr. Rennie said, at the opening of the October Term of the Supreme Court
Rennie said, the essence of going to Court is to get relief, and if said relief cannot be acquired because of the lack of legal representation, then access to justice cannot be realized.
In this light, Rennie noted, the Bar is proposing to Your Honors that it is prepared to sit with the Supreme Court, to arrive at an amicable solution, so as to ensure the realization of adherence to the Rule of Law and Access to Justice.
“The Bar also says that this is also intended to see how a workable solution can be reached, as its Legal Aid Program does not have the required manpower and resources to cater to the numerous concerns of our citizens and community dwellers to aid in the representation of indigenes in the Magisterial Courts,” Rennie maintained.
According to Cllr. Rennie, as a Bar, “we applaud the visit of members of the Supreme Court Bench to our various Magisterial Courts in their areas of supervision, in order to have a firsthand account of the activities of these Courts, and ensure that the overall Judicial performances of the staff and employees are adhered to in delivering services to the Public. “
“However, we must note that these Magisterial Courts are being operated under extremely difficult conditions, which make it difficult for them to perform the needed tasks. Nevertheless, these conditions should not serve as the reasons for their failure to implement their judicial duties,” Rennie suggested
He further said that the Bar says that for the last two (2) weeks, it has received requests and appeals from members of the communities within Montserrado County, requesting the Bar to provide pro bono lawyers to represent them in the Magisterial Courts.
“,Since most of them are not legally inclined, do not have money and there are no Public Defenders in the said Courts. Said requests are made on a daily basis,” Rennie maintained.
He added that while it is true that our law provides, under Section 1.8 of the Civil Procedure Law, as to who may represent a party, citizens who are non-lawyers, who do not have the proper understanding of the law and our legal system, stand to be at a disadvantage in instances where they are faced with a lawyer representing the adversary party against them.
“Because these lawyers are familiar with the practice and procedures, while they as ordinary citizens do not understand the procedures in the Courts,” Rennie said.
Rennie added that their fear is that they will be disadvantaged and in the event these cases are ruled against them, they lack the knowledge to appeal against the decisions of the Magisterial Courts to the Circuit Courts, owing to the time frame required by law.
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