LAWYERS DRIVING TAXIS

SOME qualified attorneys-at-law are struggling to make ends meet and some are even working as taxi drivers, a parliamentary committee heard on Friday, against concerns that legal posts in the government remain unfilled. The revelation came from attorney Hazel Thompson-Ahye, who was chairing a sitting of the Joint Select Committee (JSC) on Finance and Legal Affairs examining public officials on the subject of the ease of doing business in Trinidad and Tobago.

Thompson-Ahye has been director of the Legal Aid Clinic at Hugh Wooding Law School and a board member of the Legal Aid and Advisory Authority, Police Complaints Authority and St Dominic’s Children’s Home.

She made her startling claim after hearing of a shortage of attorneys in the Solicitor General’s Department in the Office of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs (AGLA.)

“There are many people out there, many lawyers, unemployed.

“I understand some of them are driving taxis and doing all sorts of other things because they just can’t get jobs.”

Likewise, Thompson-Ahye lamented the plight of fresh law graduates including scholarship winners, even amid vacant posts in the government service where under-staffing may frustrate attorneys to leave for less stressful jobs elsewhere.

She asked about vacant legal posts which now existed in the Solicitor General’s Department whose civil law role would influence TT’s ease of doing business.

Solicitor General Carol Hernandez said, “In all fairness to this, I have been having discussions with the Honourable Attorney General. He’s aware of it. He has asked us, asked me, to put forward some recommendations as to what could be done to expand the establishment. This is what we need to do. We’ll work on that.

“But at the moment I’m working with about 21 persons on the establishment and maybe about 12 on contract, most of them being legal officers I, legal counsel I.” The department was said to have an establishment of 42 legal positions.

JSC member Keith Scotland, an attorney, said legal staffing woes were nothing new, and asked about the hiring of new law graduates to fill the vacancies.

“Every six months we call over 70 people to the Bar. In other words it is not as if there is a dearth of attorneys, and it must be a question of getting adequate staffing.” He said such a staff shortage poses a real risk to the State to meet strict deadlines imposed by law courts under civil proceedings rules, making it “a matter of extreme urgency.”

Chief State Solicitor Sean Julien told the JSC several court matters had fallen through the cracks owing to some of his staff having difficulties managing their matters.

“So it is an urgent situation. Going forward we hope it will be addressed.”

Committee member Marvin Gonzales said shortages of legal staff had been systemic and endemic in the entire Public Service.

“We are not hearing what we are doing to change the recruitment process.”

Thompson-Ahye said some attorneys were frustrated in the Public Service by facing blame from judges when swamped by the proverbial 100 cases, to the extent they would feel to flee from such jobs.

She was glad to learn of the under-staffing.

“Even if someone is a scholarship winner and is supposed to be employed by the State, I meet them, my students, and they tell me, ‘Miss, I ain’t get a job yet. They ain’t call me yet. I’m a scholarship winner and I have to go and work for the State.'”

Thompson-Ahye said if it is known that these scholarship winners are about to graduate, steps should be taken to recruit them, even as she noted that some attorneys were driving taxis.

Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi told Newsday that attorneys have many opportunities within TT’s expanding legal/judicial system. He said to hire more attorneys they must be provided with adequate work space which he had done by way of moving the Solicitor General’s Department from its cramped quarters at Cabildo Chambers to Tower C at the Waterfront in Port of Spain. Likewise, more space was being opened up to accommodate legal/judicial staff by way of relocating certain courts from the Hall of Justice to Tower D at the waterfront.

“We are now in a position to expand the Solicitor General’s and Chief State Solicitor’s offices.”

He said the State has hired many attorneys. This includes seven more attorneys for the Public Defenders Office, on top of the 25 already hired.

The AG said the Solicitor General’s Office has hired 60 attorneys for the Children’s Authority.

“There are opportunities everywhere,” Al-Rawi said.

Of his own remit, including hiring public defenders and legal officers I in the DPPs office, Al-Rawi said, “We have crossed 100 already.

“In the Criminal Division alone we hired over 1,000 people.

“We are about to bring to life the Family and Children’s Division's further expansion. We are rolling out the magistracy in San Fernando, we have the Family Court in San Fernando. We have Princes Town court to open.

“We have 129 courts in total coming ahead. The legal structures that are expanding are quite significant.” He also said that legal private practice offered opportunities to attorneys.

On a personal note he recalled as a young attorney being advised to work either for “f.e.e. or for f.r.e.e.,” but to work at getting one’s name out there.

“Go and put your name in the system and work will follow.” He said attorneys – like other professionals – must put in the time, as there are no overnight successes.

The AG said attorneys are subject to “the vicissitudes of professional life.” He reiterated that they were not obliged to work for the State.

He concluded, “Otherwise I don’t think a taxi driver’s life is a bad life.”