Professor Velma Newton, Regional Project Director of Improved Access to Justice in the Caribbean (IMPACT Justice) is of the view that legal practitioners across the region should undergo continual training in order to remain on the cutting edge in the legal world.
Her comments came after the opening ceremony of a company law seminar that took place at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus recently. Newton told The Barbados Advocate, that in the same way doctors and accountants take part in constant training, lawyers must also undergo continuous training. She noted that IMPACT Justice was in the process of completing model legislations, which aimed to provide lawyers with continual legal education.
“Lawyers can be trained in 1960 and still practice law. They are not looking to see the new areas of law that have appeared. This training would be beneficial to both them and the clients. So we’re trying to make this training compulsory throughout the region,” she said.
Newton revealed that most of the Bar Associations have agreed with the idea of continuing legal professional development and added that the bill should be drawn up in another three months and will be taken to CARICOM to be considered as a model bill.
Michele Gibson, Project Team Leader of Justice Sector Projects, Government of Canada revealed that one of the three model bills that was approved by the Legal Affairs Committee for enactment by Member States was developed by the IMPACT Justice project. She explained that the model Community Mediation Bill was meant to lay the groundwork for the sustainability of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms- specifically community mediation services to assist countries in reducing the number of cases headed to the law courts.
She went on to note that competitiveness and coherence in legislative provisions are increasingly important if the Region’s initial vision of a Caribbean Single Market and Economy are to be realised.
“This would allow companies to operate cross-boarder without additional red tape as presently occurs even in jurisdictions with similar legislative structures,” she said.