A war of words has erupted between the Association of Defense Attorneys and the Bar Association of Belize. It started with the Judicial and Legal Services Commission recommending former Deputy DPP Sheiniza Smith, a Guyanese resident in Belize, and Peter Carter, a Trinidadian, to be appointed as High Court judges on the Criminal bench.
The ADA sent out a fiery release on Friday saying, quote, "What is particularly irksome is the almost arrogant behaviour of ignoring and disrespecting half a dozen Belizean attorneys who applied and who possess more than adequate qualifications, experience and practical knowledge."
This time around two Belizeans who applied, Trenia Young and Sharon Fraser, were not even shortlisted-in fact, Fraser said she did not receive any feedback on her application until the recommendation was made.
And while the ADA says their release on Friday was leaked, they have clarified their position and their grievance in a press briefing held today. Here is what the president, Richard "Dickie" Bradley, explained to us.
Richard "Dickie" Bradley, President, ADA
"Every time there is an appointment in the judiciary for judge or magistrate, you can guess the outcome. It is not going to be a Belizean. For those of us who are involved in this profession, that is glaring because there are way over 100 attorneys at law that you are basically saying to, 'Well, we're still a young nation,' you're saying to a young nation, 'Not one of you, not a single one is suitable.'
"For some time among ourselves as lawyer, when we would say, 'You see the vacancy? Yes. I expect you to apply.' 'Waste of time, they will pick a foreigner.' That is the stock response to us. We are going to be humiliated and asked all kinds of things and we will not even be considered. That is what has been happening, that is the reality."
"Listen, there are judges right now sitting in the court who were not even magistrates where they came from or anywhere, they were never a magistrate, worse, they were never a judge. We don't have anybody that can do that? So the truth of the matter, just that bad vibes they send out, discourages a number of people who actually have said to us that they are prepared to make that sacrifice, close their law firm or if they have partners, put the heavy burden on their legal partners and come and assist us on the bench. That's the first thing. The second thing, nobody even try to think that the people who applied are not up to standard. I'm on the media so I can't use the word to describe that, but don't even let them come with that anansi story that there are persons in this country who have been attorneys more than a decade ago, who have given up, because that is what you do when you go and work in the public sector, you give up the better benefits of the legal profession."
And while they know it won't completely solve the problem, the ADA is now demanding representation on the council so that, at the very least, they will be involved in the process. Secretary Orson Elrington explained more.
Orson "OJ" Elrington, Secretary, ADA
"The Association of Defense Attorneys represent almost 95%-and I give 95% because as I was saying during the break, I will say 5% maybe that I don't know-of those attorneys who sit on the criminal bench. The latest two appointments are for two judges on the criminal bench and I want to be clear, we are not saying that the judges who have been selected are not competent, we're not saying that anything against our CARICOM brothers and sisters, we are not saying any of that. What we have been saying for some years is that the Association of Defense Attorneys who represent 95% of the people who sit on the criminal bench-and essentially our courts are set into the civil and criminal bench, so we represent 50% of the judiciary-must have a say and must be involved in the process. So right now we are in the dark, as to the rest of the public, as to who applied, what are the qualifications, we don't know. Yet we are the people who have interactions with these people."
"We have had those discussions for years now, successive governments have agreed that it is a necessary change that the Association of Defense Attorneys has a seat on the Judicial and Legal Services Commission, we have been promised that over and over again and, oddly enough, even the executives from the Bar Association claim that they too have said that the Association of Defense Attorneys by law should have a seat on the Judicial and Legal Services Commission."
"It is our intention that if there is not a change in the composition of the Judicial and Legal Services Commission and at least a public commitment by the government to ensure that there are changes in the constitution of the Judicial and Legal Services Commission to include the Association of Defense Attorneys, that we will be taking legal action to enforce that constitutional right on behalf of the association and membership."
