Law Council urged to throw out unethical lawyers

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Principal Judge Dr. Flavian Zeija wants the Uganda Law Council a body charged with regulating the legal profession in the country to start suspending unethical lawyers forever especially those who want to exploit their clients.

Zeija made the remarks while officiating as the Guest of Honor at the 49th Graduation Ceremony of the Law Development Centre on Friday. The graduands who graduated with Diplomas in Human Rights, Bar Course and Diploma in Law were 2007 in number.

Zeija indicated that he has seen several traits of people in this generation where they reject tradition, are unfiltered, selfish and those who want to be seen as individuals to stand out of the crowd like having tattoos and piercing their noses. He said that no lawyer should ever appear before his court with tattoos adding that they are currently hearing of phrases like ‘legal rebels’ which couldn’t be known for advocates in the past generations.

He said that having understood the generation they are dealing with at the moment, they have started seeing Law Firms that are known for only crooked deals and those filing cases knowing that they have no case but only to delay the inevitable, like recovery of loans or sale of mortgaged properties.  “There are law firms in Uganda whereby, if they are involved in a case, you expect something fishy. If you run such a firm, you need legal salvation,” says Zeija.

According to Zeija they are also seeing common incidences of lawyers taking clients’ money and failing to represent them and receiving their monies and failing to remit it to clients which he indicated that it has become a daily song.

The Guest of honor has also decried people he described as Bush lawyers those who reportedly  have no practicing certificates but  represent clients, lawyers working as bailiffs and running bailiff firms in which they sell properties to themselves and as well as those entering into illegal agreements with their clients.

He asked the graduands to shun such behaviors including abusing judges saying that’s the best way to shine in career as an Advocate. He added that if possible, the Uganda Law Council should start barring such advocates who engage in such unprofessional behaviors forever. Currently, the Law Society has been barring unprofessional lawyers from practice for a period of not more than two years or until such a time you sort yourself with a client for those who eat their monies.

Speaking at the same event, the Uganda Law Society President Phionah Wall Nabaasa appealed to the graduands to offer justice to those who need it and keep on embracing what is fair and just.

She indicated that the currently the country has 4500 Lawyers and majority of them are based in Kampala Capital City alone  and given this number to the population of the country which is over 40 million people, you find that only 5 percent of the population are able to access courts.

The Director of Law Development Center Frank Nigel Othembi was happy with this year’s graduation saying that at least 40 percent of those who sat exams passed. According to Othembi, the pass rate has now increased compared to last year where only 10 percent of the students passed examinations.

Only a few students who scored first class Diplomas and leaders have been able to attend the graduation physically with their parents and the rest were following online.  Scores attempted to enter the LDC but they were blocked at the gate by police and they kept there following on phones.

But Othembi hopes that next year’s ceremony will be physical. The physical graduation was criticized mostly on social media by the students saying it doesn’t make sense for them to follow virtually yet next week they have a physical sports gala.

Meanwhile Busiro, South Member of Parliament Paul Nsubuga whom Buganda Road Court on Thursday directed Police to arrest upon sight and compel him to attend trial on theft charges against him was among those that graduated with a Diploma in Law.

Nsubuga told Uganda Radio Network that as a legislator, he had to study law to back up his position in Parliament with legal knowledge and that the legal battles he has fought have given him a lesson to learn.

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