Court of Appeal President Anita Allen yesterday harshly criticized lawyers for shoddily prepared arguments and seeking adjournments on specious grounds. Allen made her remarks at the special sitting of the Court of Appeal to mark the opening of the legal year.
"Of greater concern for us last year was the standard of representation of counsel before us," she said. "Far too often, shoddily prepared and inadequate grounds of appeal were filed; skeleton arguments were late or not filed at all; there were too many applications for adjournments on the basis that counsel did not have sufficient time to prepare; or because they were in trials or for some other innovative, imaginative but specious reason."
She continued, "Moreover, the court was more often than not unassisted by the standard of skeleton arguments when they were filed, or in some cases, by the oral arguments made before the court; very often, counsel had not read the papers before coming to court and was ignorant of the facts and the law pursuant to which the appeal was lodged.
"It cannot be emphasized enough that lawyers are absolutely indispensable to the appeal process. You are advisors to and advocates for clients aggrieved by decisions of the lower courts and tribunals; and more importantly, you are officers of the court and public citizens with a special responsibility for the quality of justice."
Allen also urged lawyers not to lodge "frivolous appeals". She said, "We expect that before you file an appeal, you believe in good faith that the court below has committed some error of law and there is some reasonable basis for the appeal. Moreover, counsel ought to communicate more with each other and explore alternative avenues for resolution before filing an appeal.
"Too much time is wasted in lodging and fighting useless or hopeless appeals. I encourage counsel to abandon this lackadaisical and cavalier approach to your responsibilities and to work harder this year to deepen your scholarship and advocacy skills; and so maintain the quality of justice the people of The Bahamas deserve."
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