The
General Legal Counsel and the Chief Justice of The Gambia, last Friday enrolled
27 new legal practitioners into The Gambia legal practice at the High Court
complex in Banjul.
The
27 enrolled legal practitioners, who have gained training at the Bar and
entered in the roll of legal practitioners, have been successfully enrolled
through their academics and vocational training as lawyers.
Gambia
Bar Association President, Salieu Taal welcomed the new entrants and encouraged
them to be ethical and intellectually independent. “Never lose sight of your
professional ethics, irrespective of the status of the client but always
remember to work within the ethics of the profession. Clients do come and go
and the money also get finished but your profession as lawyers will always
remain to stand,” he said.
He
encouraged them to be committed and be ready to serve the interest of the
society and be hard working. He also reminded them that they should have skills
that will help them to practice their job as professionals. “You must work
within the ethical profession of the job and you should be independent, respect
the rule of law and safe guard the Constitution,” Mr Taal advised.
He
added that the Gambia Bar Association and UNDP are working on a project to
establish a prison task office in Jeshwang prison, where lawyers will carryout
their work and they also launched a mobile legal called MLAG with the objective
of bringing legal practitioners closer to the community and he called on all
new entrants to be part of the project.
Representing
the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Hussain Thomasi encouraged the
new entrant of legal practitioners to continue the hard work and be committed
to the society and make themselves available to national duty to improve the
standard of better delivery of legal and competent services to the public.
He
encouraged the new entrants to respect the core values of the profession and to
remember that they are in positions of trust that they should not abuse.
“Realize that state has also invested tremendously in your training and gave
you infrastructure to practice the profession. You should therefore be ready to
give back to the society in the committee service.”
Chief
Justice Hassan B. Jallow congratulated the new entrants and encouraged them to
work within the professional code of conduct in order to be legal
professionals. “As legal practitioners and as officers of the court, your
primary duty is to promote proper administration, your independence, the
administration of the law, maintenance of the rule of law and the well being of
the court,” Justice Jallow said.
He
advised the new entrants to be constantly reading the laws of the land and
always engage with their seniors with regards with the work so as to avoid
making mistakes.