Today is a special day for you our newly admitted legal practitioners; it is a day of celebrating the fruits of your hard work. I have been informed by the Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education (ZIALE) that out of three hundred and twenty three (323) candidates that sat for the Legal Practitioners Qualifying Examinations in December 2014/January 2015, only a total of seventy-five (75) have passed.
Clearly, the fact that you are among the seventy-five (75) advocates that have been admitted to the Bar today, is proof that you have worked hard in your pursuit to become an advocate. Today, your hard work and perseverance have been rewarded. Allow me to congratulate each one of you, individually and collectively, on your successful completion of your Bar Examinations. You are now members of a learned profession; a profession which trades on high levels of professional conduct and ethics, hard work, and courtesy to both fellow Counsel as well as to the Bench.
Any legal practitioner who has passed through ZIALE would attest to the fact that Legal Practitioners’ Qualifying Examinations are the most rigorous and challenging examinations for us lawyers in Zambia. Your admission to the Bar today, therefore, is an enormous professional achievement which should be applauded and cherished.
Having been a lawyer for many years myself, I can assure you that despite the many challenges and pressures associated with the ZIALE studies, and eventually the work of a lawyer, you will never regret having joined this noble profession if you abide by the professional and ethical requirements that make us deserve the prestige of being called ‘learned’.
That said; let me remind you that your admission to this learned profession comes with remarkable responsibilities. The oaths you have taken today are an inviolable undertaking to live by the professional conduct and ethics of this profession. The oaths you have taken today should guide your career away from professional misconduct if you desire to enjoy the professional journey that you have started today. In his book entitled ‘A Man for all Seasons’, Robert Bolt illustrates the sacrosanct nature of an oath by reciting a conversation, which the then Lord Chancellor of England, Sir. Thomas More, had with his daughter, Meg. Meg begged the Lord Chancellor to sign an oath supporting the King - even if it was against his conscience. In response, the Lord Chancellor told his daughter that- “When a man takes an oath, Meg, he is holding his own self in his hands, like water. And if he opens his fingers then - he needn’t hope to find himself again.”
By way of analogy, if you breach the oaths you have taken today you should not expect to continue being part of the Legal Profession.
In my Keynote Speech, at this years’ LAZ Annual Conference, I said, and I will repeat here today, that “the legal profession in Zambia has been one of the most disciplined professions in this Country”. I would urge you, our new advocates, to preserve this professional record.
My advice to each one of you is that resist, by all means, any temptation to involve yourself in unprofessional acts because the consequences of professional misconduct can be calamitous to your budding career.
You should always bear in mind that you will hold your certificate of admission to the Bar subject to immaculate professional conduct and ethics. If you decide to depart from our cherished rules of professional conduct and ethics, your certificate of admission to the Bar can be taken away from you. I am certain that you all recall, from your Professional Conduct and Ethics Course at ZIALE, that once a legal practitioner’s name is removed from the Roll, it is extremely difficult for him or her to be restored. The profession rigorously enforces what Lord Donaldson, M.R said in the celebrated case of Re a Solicitor No. 5 of 1990, when he stated that- “…however sympathetic one may be towards an individual member of either branch of the legal profession, if you fall very seriously below the standards of that profession and are expelled from it there is a public interest and an interest in the profession itself in hardening its heart if any question arises of your rejoining it. Neither branch of the profession is short of people who have never fallen from grace. There is considerable public interest in the public as a whole being able to deal with members of those professions knowing that save in the most exceptional circumstances, they can be sure that none of them have ever been guilty of any dishonesty at all.”
You should know that your admission to the Bar today has kindled a lot of expectations in the members of the public. Lawyers are expected by society to play a leading role in promoting peace, order and stability, and in enhancing constitutionalism, democracy and the rule of law. So, clients will come to you and entrust the resolution of their legal problems in your hands on the strength of the confidence and trust they have for members of this noble profession. I entreat you not to erode that trust and confidence.
I beseech you, in the conduct of your profession, to by all means, pursue nothing less than excellence. I urge you to handle your clients’ cases to the best of your professional abilities. If you are not sure about a legal point do not give legal advice to your client until you have done ample legal research and/or consultation. Always remember that hard work is an inescapable attribute of a good lawyer.
With regard to matters before Court, do not appear before a Court of law, to handle your client’s case, without having done adequate preparations. Study your client’s case carefully; read the relevant documentary evidence; have pre-trial briefings with your witnesses and conduct adequate research into the law. This is the open secret to being a meritorious and successful lawyer.
Lack of preparation can have very distressing repercussions for a lawyer. The obvious ramifications of lack of preparation are that you can suffer embarrassment in court; you can lose a straightforward case; you can cause delays in the disposal of your client’s case, and ultimately you can end up becoming a degenerate lawyer in whose hands no member of the public would risk entrusting their legal issues.
Let me advise you, at the earliest point of your professional career, that if you are a person who cannot live by the dictates of this profession, consider joining another profession where adherence to professional conduct and ethics may not be an important factor in maintaining good professional standing. The legal profession is a profession for honest people; it is a profession for persons of noble character and integrity. The wise words of Abraham Lincoln, contained in his 1850 ‘Memorandum for Law Lecture’, are still instructive in this regard. He observed that- “There is a vague popular belief that lawyers are necessarily dishonest. I say vague, because when we consider to what extent confidence and honors are reposed in and conferred upon lawyers by the people, it appears improbable that their impression of dishonesty is very distinct and vivid. Yet the impression is common, almost universal. Let no young man choosing the law for a calling for a moment yield to the popular belief. Resolve to be honest at all events; and if in your own judgment you cannot be an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without being a lawyer. Choose some other occupation, rather than one in the choosing of which you do, in advance, consent to be a knave.”
Your conduct outside your legal work should equally be above reproach. You are a lawyer always regardless of where you may be. You do not cease to be a lawyer just because you are out of the courtroom or out of your chambers.
As I end my remarks, I would urge you to continue refreshing your memories with the provisions of the Legal Practitioners Act, Chapter 30 of the Laws of Zambia. That Act is your code of professional conduct and ethics.
In conclusion, let me wish you all, the newly admitted advocates, very good luck in your respective careers. I hope that you will live by the dictates of our cherished profession.
I thank you!
