Speed up act review, no tissue threats to members

THE EDITOR: Open letter to the Council of the Law Association of TT (LATT).

I have noted your media release of December 3 expressing your observation with "great concern, the growing trend of attorneys-at-law engaging, whether by themselves or through partnerships with others, in conduct and/or actions which is tantamount to advertising and or touting" and reminding of the LATT's "statutory duty to ensure that members adhere to the code of ethics and accordingly, offending attorneys-at-law can expect to be contacted by the LATT within the coming weeks."

I draw to your attention to a post on the LATT website message board, undated but which advised members as follows:

“Following on the work done by previous councils over the past 12 years, the committee to review the Legal Profession Act has been working on finalising a set of proposed amendments which shall shortly be circulated to the membership for their comments. Some main areas of intended reform include:

"Adjusting the strictures against advertising and publicity in the code of ethics.”

This message to members is several months old.

It is of concern to me that we have had no further information on the outcome of the association's review of the act.

Instead, we are provided with the release of last Saturday expressing "great concern" on the matter of advertising and warning members that they "can expect to be contacted by the LATT within the coming week."

As a member of 20 years standing and who has expressed serious concerns about the declining standards of conduct in our profession, both when I was president of the student body at the Hugh Wooding Law School and while in practice, I am urging the LATT council to accelerate the review of the Legal Profession Act in terms of the issues indicated in your message board post rather than issuing threats to members.

CLYDE WEATHERHEAD

via e-mail