Ethics and representing murderers

May 19, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,

News of an attorney withdrawing from the trial of a city businessman allegedly seen kicking his daughter lying on the ground in a store has caught my attention. The news article said the lawyer has withdrawn himself from representing a city businessman, who is accused of brutally assaulting his 25-year-old daughter, for a charge filed under the Domestic Violence Act. According to the lawyer, “certain ethical and other considerations” have influenced his decision to withdraw and discontinue all further involvement in the case. There is a joke that you can’t use “lawyers” and “ethics” in the same sentence. I had to rebuke my friend Suresh that “not all lawyers are crooks, and money-hungry.” I do wish that more of them would step up and fight cases for the renegotiation of the rapacious oil contracts in the national interest.
There was one lawyer in Berbice, now a senior counsel, who facilitated the unauthorised sale of my aunt’s property through someone given full power of attorney. There was another lawyer in Georgetown, a senior counsel, who was paid a million dollars to process transports. When I asked him why after 13 years, we don’t have the transports, he got angry and said he was not going to do them anymore. He was not going to refund any money until I confronted him and threatened exposure in the media, and he refunded 20%. I suggest that when “Senior Counsel” is being contemplated that there is an invitation to the public for comments before the award is given.
How about all those lawyers, charging high prices, who defend murderers as a specialty in their legal practice? Are there not ethics issues there too, or does big money remove the ethics considerations? I understand that an accused has a right to legal representation regardless of one’s guilt or innocence, because that’s how the justice system works. So, I am trying to figure out how withdrawing from an assault and battery case is such a big ethics problem compared to lawyers who like to take murder cases.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jerry Jailall

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News