A private legal practitioner, Reindorf Twumasi-Ankrah, has indicated that the directive given by Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah for judges to hear cases of senior lawyers first to allow junior lawyers to learn is unnecessary.
According to Twumasi-Ankrah, the directive of the Chief Justice is not needed because the practice of law has evolved from the days of oral arguments to an era of written statements so junior lawyers will have nothing to learn in court.
The lawyer, who made these remarks on JoyNews' Newsfile monitored by GhanaWeb, added that the practice of law offers junior lawyers the opportunity to learn through the system of pupillage.
“I do not condemn the Tradition as bad but however we have to look at the fact that tradition evolves with time. The underlying reason for the directive of the Chief Justice is that Juniors will learn. But I have had the opportunity to be in court and the judges will tell you that you know what the days of Da Rocha and Jurindolph are over, I’m not ready to listen to you talk for 10, 15 minutes, go and put everything in writing.
“So, we should also admit that those days of advocacy in court are whittling away so there is no need of somebody to go and sit in court and say that I am going to learn from a senior because there is no advocacy in the court, everything is written down.
“So, in my view, so long as our practice is evolving over time, automatically some practices will whittle away. There is a reason why every lawyer called to the bar is supposed to do pupillage, the understanding is that you go and train under a senior for a minimum of six months by which period you are able to stand on your own and practice,” he said.
Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, in a press release, urged judges to keep to the tradition of listening to cases of senior lawyers first before cases of junior lawyers irrespective of who arrived at the court first.
According to Justice Annin-Yeboah, this tradition is essential to help junior lawyers learn.
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