The Barbados Bar Association calls for the Raising of The Bar

Sherman Moore - Acting Chief Justice of Barbados
photo compliments natonnews

There appears to be variance brewing amongst lawyers in Barbados, and by extension the Barbados Bar Association (BBA). The BBA in September of this year was reported in the daily news referring to the Legal Profession Act, the main body of laws governing lawyers in Barbados as having "Too many shortcomings."

The association had urge Government to come with a new package of laws that would fix deficiencies in areas including continuing education, advertising and the disciplining of lawyers.

The Act incorporated in 1973 to provide for the fusion of the branches of the legal profession, or the legal education and discipline of attorneys-at-law, and for connected purposes seem to be causing disharmony in the profession.

President Leslie Haynes, QC, had said recommendations made to Government by Professor Keith Patchett, an expert in constitutional law, and distinguished legal scholar Sir Roy Marshall “need to be implemented as a matter of urgency”.

More recently The Barbados Bar Association has described the justice system in Barbados as a delinquent court system.

“As president of the Bar, it is my duty to inform you of the general feeling of the Bar, that the wheels of our judicial system are grinding to a halt,” president Leslie Haynes said. (nationnews)

The Daily Nation claims it has a copy of an official letter sent to the Acting Chief Justice Sherman Moore earlier this week by the association, which represents over 700 attorneys, particularly complaining about the “dysfunction of the civil justice system of Barbados”, noting it offended the constitutional right of people’s access to justice and was now a matter of grave national importance.