Magistrate yet to see any young lawyers

DAYS AFTER the country’s top legal advisor urged 53 new attorneys to consider criminal law, at least one magistrate says he has yet to see any in his court.

Last Friday, Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite, who was speaking at a full sitting in Supreme Court No. 1 to admit 53 new attorneys, said he had been hearing that not enough lawyers were practising at the Criminal Bar. He urged them to appear as often as possible in the law courts.

The Attorney General also said the new attorneys could help with the drafting of plea bargains – an initiative that was soon scheduled to come on stream.

However, Magistrate Douglas Frederick, presiding in Court No. 1 of the District “A” Magistrates’ Court, said on Tuesday that he had not seen any of the new faces at his bar table.

“I am not seeing any of these lawyers who were admitted on Friday. I remember when I was admitted the Friday; the Saturday I was in court in my gown.

“But this is two days now, Monday and Tuesday, that I have not seen one of these lawyers,” he added.

He later mused that they had possibly gravitated to the civil court because “I guess crime doesn’t pay”.