Justice Kisakye questions quality of state brief lawyers

Supreme Court Judge Dr Esther Kisakye questioned the quality of lawyers enrolled for state brief saying that they are not of good quality as compared to private lawyers.

While addressing the media during the closure of the 22nd Annual Judges conference, Supreme court judge Justice Dr Estger Kisakye called upon the judiciary and the Uganda Law Society to check the quality of lawyers registered on state brief whom she charges for being incompetent and of substandard quality.

Dr Kisakye added that with such lawyers, many financially weak accused persons battling capital offenses are left on the verge of not getting full justice since they are represented by people who are not interested in what they are doing.

However the public relations officer for the judiciary  Karemani Jameson Karemera says, the peanuts paid to lawyers on state brief might be the reason they handle cases without a lot of effort.

“Each lawyer is paid 2.3million shillings for 10 cases per court session. If someone is not committed enough to what he is doing, that’s very little money because some cases need time and others need a lot of research so if one looks at the pay, they are motivated…,” Karemani said.

He added that the judiciary is now pushing for an increase in the budget (of about 9.6 millions  for the whole session) so that good pay to state brief lawyers attracts more lawyers to join.

Uganda Law Society president Simon Peter Kinobe says, there are new laws that are yet to be implemented which also demand senior lawyers handle an unpaid for case per year so that the quality of these lawyers is boasted.

He also warned all practicing lawyers about the monitoring tools invented to make sure all lawyers handle unpaid for cases and failure to do so, one’s certificate will not he renewed.

Edited by David Tumusiime 

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