Fran­cis Joseph

Two lawyers were yes­ter­day sus­pend­ed from prac­tis­ing; three oth­ers were giv­en time to pay fines and com­pen­sa­tion, while a sixth has de­cid­ed to do bat­tle with the Law As­so­ci­a­tion.

Jus­tice Gre­go­ry Smith, pre­sid­ing in the Port-of-Spain High Court, grant­ed the de­c­la­ra­tion to sus­pend at­tor­neys Ce­cil Pope and Carl­ton George from prac­tis­ing in the courts of T&T.

Pope and George were sus­pend­ed from prac­tis­ing law, in ac­cor­dance with Sec­tion 25 of the Le­gal Pro­fes­sion Act, by rea­son of their fail­ure or omis­sion and/or re­fusal to com­ply in whole or in part with the or­der of the Dis­ci­pli­nary Com­mit­tee of the Law As­so­ci­a­tion, un­til such time as they com­ply with the said or­der of the Dis­ci­pli­nary Com­mit­tee.

The judge or­dered that the Reg­is­trar of the Supreme Court pub­lish the no­tices in the Gazette, and that each of the two at­tor­neys pay $14,000 in costs. Nei­ther Pope nor George was present in court. The his­toric ac­tion was tak­en against Pope, a for­mer mag­is­trate, over his fail­ure to re­pay $4,000 and re­turn files to a client, while George failed to pay a $10,000 fine and $51,800 in com­pen­sa­tion.

Three oth­er at­tor­neys–William Greene, Nicole Bas­raj and An­drew Cas­simire–were giv­en time to pay, fail­ing which they would al­so be sus­pend­ed.

Greene has un­til Jan­u­ary 15 to pay $117,000. Cas­simire, a for­mer PNM Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment for To­co/Man­zanil­la, was giv­en un­til Jan­u­ary 30 to pay a $10,000 fine, while Bas­raj has un­til Jan­u­ary 16 to pay $34,500. An­oth­er at­tor­ney, Ken­neth Munroe-Browne, will face the courts on Jan­u­ary 16 if ne­go­ti­a­tions with the Law As­so­ci­a­tion do not bear fruit.

Alvin Fitz­patrick SC, who ap­peared for the Law As­so­ci­a­tion, told the court the as­so­ci­a­tion sent let­ters to the six lawyers in June, ac­tu­al­ly plead­ing with them to put their house in or­der. He said the let­ters were sent in an at­tempt to avoid lit­i­ga­tion. He made it quite clear that it was the re­spon­si­bil­i­ty of the Law As­so­ci­a­tion to en­sure that lawyers con­duct­ed them­selves prop­er­ly.

Fitz­patrick, who led Les­ley Ann Lucky-Sama­roo and Kem­raj Har­rikissoon, said, "We bent over back­wards since June, we gave every­body an op­por­tu­ni­ty to put their house in or­der. We filed the mat­ter in Oc­to­ber, now some of them are say­ing they are not ready and they still need an at­tor­ney."

Greene said he want­ed to call wit­ness­es and re­tain a lawyer. He al­so wants the tran­scripts of the ev­i­dence be­fore the Dis­c­pli­nary Com­mit­tee. He asked for time to pay the mon­ey to the Reg­is­trar of the Supreme Court, say­ing he need­ed to get the mon­ey from as­sets he had in Cana­da.

Cas­simire, who said he was a pen­sion­er, claimed that he had paid $20,000 in com­pen­sa­tion. He said he was against the $10,000 fine im­posed by the Dis­ci­pli­nary Com­mit­tee. "I did not pay the fine be­cause I did not agree with it. I won't pay the fine, nei­ther did I ap­peal the fine. I am a sick man with a stroke," Cas­simire told the court.