The Bahamas Bar Association needs to institute a better system of informing the public of the punishments it orders against lawyers – especially when disbarment is ordered. The public has a right to know who has been judged to have committed such significant breaches of trust that they deserve to be disbarred.
A notice could be published in the newspapers with the picture and name of the person in question and the reason why he or she was disbarred. The association could also create a noticeable section on its website to list the lawyers who have been disbarred. If the lawyer is appealing the disbarment order, then a note could be attached stating that an appeal is pending.
Better publicity of disbarments would help Bahamians to not seek counsel from people judged not trustworthy by competent and legally authorized bodies of their peers. If a lawyer has been found to have stolen a client’s funds, shouldn’t a pensioner or a teacher know that she should stay away from this person who may still be trying to pretend to be a lawyer in good standing?
The Bahamas Bar Association must help protect us from those who are not worthy of our trust. We should not have to guess who we should see for representation and who we should run away from.
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