No room for politics in legal profession – Justice Bruce-Lyle

Where is the St Vincent and the Grenadines Bar Association?

That is the question that Justice Frederick Bruce-Lyle and Queen’s Counsel Andrew Cummings are asking.{{more}}

The issue came up during the call to the local Bar of Keah Glasgow last Friday at the High Court.

“Where is the Bar in this society? They don’t speak out on anything, only time is for elections or Christmas party,” the High Court judge said.

The judge was following up on a point raised earlier by Cummings, who at the same event, slammed the local Bar Association, saying that, in his opinion, such an association was non-existent.

According to Cummings, the Bar Association was divided politically.

He, too, made the comment that the association did not meet regularly, except when it was time to elect a new executive.

“We need to stop that,” Cummings said.

Justice Bruce-Lyle commented saying that there was no room for politics in the legal profession.

“When I walk the street and the things I hear about lawyers, they make me shiver,” the High Court judge said.

He explained that it was because of the manner in which the Bar Association functioned that he believed the general public had that sort of view of lawyers in the country. (DD)