Dear Editor,

Jamaica is considered to be a corrupt society. It seems, however, that the forms of corruption practised in some professions are not considered to be corruption. How could it be that in one year a total of 537 complaints (409 pending and 128 new complaints) against lawyers is not an indication of corruption in the legal profession?

Faced with this glaring evidence, Mrs Jacqueline Samuels-Brown, the president of the Jamaican Bar Association, tries to sanitise corruption in the legal profession. She is insisting that the number of complaints being made against lawyers is not an indication of a rotten profession and is asking that the legal profession ought not to be judged by the number of complaints against lawyers, but by the number of convictions.

Ironically, corruption in the battered and derided police force (the standard-bearer of our corrupt society) is not measured by similar standards (number of convictions). The police force is branded corrupt once a charge is made — and rightly so. I will also add that the percentage of corruption in the legal profession is more than corruption in the police force, comparing the number of complaints against lawyers vs complaints /arrests against the over 8000 police officers over the same period. I also believe that corruption and unethical behaviour of lawyers are under-reported. Mrs Samuels-Brown should stop defending the indefensible. She should “fess up” and acknowledge the corruption in the legal profession. The Jamaican Bar Association should work with the General Legal Council to weed out corruption in the profession.

This might be tough, though. The arrest of attorneys seems to occur only if and when they cannot repay a client. Once the funds are returned to the client, the problem will go away and these attorneys will continue to practise law. The Council will take no serious actions against these attorneys even though they are known to commit crimes or other breaches of the legal profession.

We should not accept or entertain the idea of setting up a mediation facility to deal with complaints against ethically challenged lawyers. They will continue to practise law, and will be just as Mrs Samuels-Brown sees it — they would not be considered corrupt since they are not convicted.

Authnel Reid

authnelreid@optonline.net