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CJ’s Idea to Call Cases of Senior Lawyers First “Bad” – Kwaku Asare
US-based Ghanaian law Professor Kwaku Asare has disagreed with Chief Justice(CJ) Kwasi Anin Yeboah’s assertion that cases in the trial courts should be called based on seniority of the lawyer.
In a circular issued by the CJ, trial Judges were admonished to adhere to the tradition of calling the cases of senior lawyers first.
According to the CJ, the age-long tradition of calling the cases of senior lawyers first during trials, will afford junior lawyers the opportunity to learn from their seniors.
Reacting to the directive from the CJ in a Facebook post on Monday, 11 April 2022, the US-based law professor noted that: “Parties must be treated equally in our courts.”
He emphasised that: “The practice of giving preferences to senior lawyers, by calling their cases first, can quickly degenerate into giving more weight to what they say, giving them more time, paying less attention to junior lawyers, etc.
“Furthermore, it sends a signal to clients that if you want your case to move quickly in our courts, then you better hire a senior lawyer.”
He further noted that: “I do not accept that junior lawyers should go to the court room to learn from senior lawyers. They go there to defend their clients and judges are to presume that they know what they are doing once they have been called to the Bar”
He added that good governance does not agree with the CJ that “trial courts should call cases based on the seniority of the lawyer.
“That idea is as bad as requiring all prospective lawyers to go to the same government school to learn evidence and family law.”