SPEECH DELIVERED
DURING THE
ADMISSION OF
NEW
ADVOCATES ON 1ST APRIL, 2016 AT THE SUPREME COURT OF
KENYA, NAIROBI BY HON. MR. JUSTICE SAMSON OKONG’O,
PRESIDING JUDGE, ENVIRONMENT AND LAND COURT OF
KENYA.
The Chief Justice of the Republic of Kenya, the Honourable Judges and
Magistrates present, Honourable Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:
1. Felicitation:
It is a great pleasure to have been asked by the Chief Justice to speak to you today.
This is an important day for you, your families, friends and all of us present. This
is a day which for many years was only in your dreams. Your dreams have today
been realized. I know it was not smooth all the way. You faced many challenges
and hurdles but with the help of God, your families and teachers, you
surmounted them all to be here today. This is indeed a great achievement. You
are today being inducted to the great and noble profession of law. On behalf of
the judges, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your
admission as advocates of the High Court of Kenya. I have a few words of advice
for you as you start your journey in the profession.
2. Continuous Education:
Legal education does not stop when you are admitted. Law is a profession that
demands constant learning. New laws are being passed with regularity which was
not the case before. In Kenya we now have County Assemblies, National
Assembly and the Senate all making laws. In addition, we have judge made law.
Previously, we had only two superior courts of record. We now have five of such
courts. In addition to local laws, you will also have to keep up with legal
developments in the East African Region and in the International arena. You will
have to take time to engage with these fast changing laws to be able to perform
your duties competently. Your success in the profession is going to depend to a
large extent on what you are going to learn when you leave here through
practice,research and interaction with colleagues and judicial officers rather than
on what you already know. I want to appeal you to be receptive to learning and
mentorship.
3. Changing Legal Landscape:
To borrow from Dr. Spencer Johnson’s book; Who Moved My Cheese, I want
to tell you that the cheese has moved in the legal profession. The legal sector is in
a time of unprecedented change. Consumer demands and developments in
technology have fundamentally changed the ways in which legal services are
delivered. Kenyans of today demand value for their money. It is no longer
business as usual. Days are gone when you would take months to respond to
correspondence or years to render services for which you have been paid. We are
now dealing with sophisticated consumers of legal services who know their rights.
Theycan neither be cheated nor taken for a ride. These are the realities that you
will have to live with. You will have to adapt to these changing trends or be
banished from the profession. For your information, many have suffered this fate.
That said; I must add that, we have a lot of hope in you. Compared to the years
gone by, most of you are now entering the profession with more education and
technological skills. Some of you have post graduate degrees. Some are
professionals in their own right in other fields. We hope that these extra
competencies and capabilities would assist you in coping with the fast changing
legal landscape.
4. Position of advocates in society:
Advocates occupy a special position in society. They are supposed to act as
watchdogs for the rule of law. The society is always wary of those who wield the
coercive power of the state. We have one of the most liberal and progressive
constitutions in the world with a robust bill of rights. The noble and wellmeaning provisions of our constitution will not become a practical reality to the
public unless they have access to competent legal advice and representation. As an
advocateyou have a duty to preserve and promote the rule of law. This profession
requires courage and boldness. You must be prepared to act for unpopular clients
and to speak against abuse of power. Acts of courage by a few lawyers had in the
past produced remarkable changes and contributedimmensely to the political and
social transformation of this great country.This profession has a tradition; that of
ensuring that fairness, justice and equality before the law reigns in society. In
joining the profession, you have a duty to the profession to maintain this
tradition.
5. Duty to the court, colleagues and clients:
The oath that you have taken todaybinds you to honour your duty to the court.
You are now an officer of the court. You have a duty to assist the court to do
justice. You also owe a duty to your clients and colleagues. You will have to do a
balancing act to ensure that there is no conflict in serving these different interests.
Your duty to the court is paramount. Your duty to your clients or colleagues
cannot override your solemn duty to the court. I have a problem with the way
many advocates relate to each other nowadays. There is very little civility and
professionalismin the manner advocates deal with each other. Civility and
professionalism has been replaced with antagonism. I know that the number of
advocates has grown over the years, and opportunities for personal relationships
and mentorship may have dwindled. This cannot however justify the lack of
professional courtesy and decorum that we are witnessing today among some
advocates. It is not rare these days to hear an advocate referring to his colleague’s
submissions as “rubbish” or “nonsense”. We have even witnessed a case where a
male advocate referred to a female colleague as “this woman”.
If that is not
enough, we were treated the other day to a rare spectacle where two “learned
friends” engaged each other in a fist fight inside a court room; playing gladiators
for their respective clients. How far can we go?
6. The problem escalated to the bench:
Sadly, this problematic situation has been escalated to the bench. There have
been occasions where sense of good judgment on the part of advocateshas been
blurred by disappointment over a court decision. This has normally been
followed by unjustified claims on the conduct and ability of the courtand an
application for recusal.I want to make it clear that we do not fear or detest
criticism. We are servants of the people and those we serve must call us to
account. It is through criticism of our work that we can improve. The criticism
must however be positive and must be carried out with decorum and some level
of civility. There is no need to disparage the court. We all serve at the altar of
justice. When such thing happens we all lose because the public’s confidence in
the administration of justice takes a dive. I don’t think anyone would want to
instruct you to take a dispute to courtif they have no confidence in the justice
system.As you go out there, I would appeal to you to take pride not only in the
great profession that you have joined but also in all its members including the
bench.
7. An advocate must have integrity:
When I was at the law school 25 years ago, I was taught that an advocate’s word is
his bond. I was told that a lawyer’sword could be taken to the bank and cashed. I
was taught that an advocate must have impeccable integrity. To me integrity
entails three things namely, telling the truth (honesty), keeping your word and
practising what you say you believe in. Today, these can only be said to be
aspirational virtues to many advocates.In 1881, a US judge described the qualities
needed in an attorney as follows;
“It is not enough for the attorney that he be honest. He must be that and
more. He must be believed to be honest. It is absolutely essential to the
usefulness of an attorney that he be entitled to the confidence of the
community wherein he practices .......a lawyer needs, indeed to be learned
…….and he must have prudence and tact to use his learning and foresight
and industry and courage. But all these may exist in a moderate degree and
yet he may be creditable and useful member of the profession, so long as
the practice is to him a clean and honest function. But …..once the
practice becomes to him a nice “brawl for hire” or a system of legalized
plunder where craft and not conscience is the rule and where false hood
and not truth is the means by which to gain his end, then he has forfeited
all right to be an officer in any court of justice or to be numbered among
the members of an honourable profession.”
When you engage in dishonesty as an advocate, you forfeit the moral
standing to be called an officer of the court and a member of the noble
profession of law.As I have stated earlier in this speech, we have a lot of
hope in you. You have an opportunity to do things differently. I believe
that you were attracted to the legal profession by the desire to make a
difference in society and to be a guardian of justice.You were not attracted
to the profession to draw illicit gain. I urge you not to be afraid to
challenge the norm. The norm now is that Law is no longer “practice” but
business where what matters is the bottom line. On issues to do with
professional ethics, my advice to you is to make your own track. Don’t
follow the down trodden path. Chart your own course and destiny. You
will never regret doing what is right and just.
8. Conclusion:
In conclusion, it is once again my great pleasure to wish you the very best of luck
and God’s blessings as you embark on what I believe will be an illustrious career
in law. Thank you.