Lawyers who are unable to attend court during the legal vacation should seek an accommodation from the judge rather than unilaterally declare that they will not participate in proceedings, Deputy Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr Justice Srem-Sai, has said.
He said the position was necessary to preserve the authority of judges to manage proceedings and ensure that the interests of all parties before the court were properly considered.
His comments follow concerns raised by the Ghana Bar Association in a letter to Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie on Monday, August 10. The GBA said lawyers were not under any compulsion to appear before Vacation Courts after notifying the court of their unavailability during the legal vacation.
The association said the vacation period, which runs from August 1 to September 30, was intended to provide judges, lawyers and judicial staff with a period of respite. It argued that Vacation Courts traditionally dealt with urgent and interlocutory matters and did not conduct trials, particularly where counsel was unavailable.
Dr Srem-Sai disagreed with the suggestion that a lawyer’s unavailability automatically prevents a court from proceeding. He said judges have the discretion to consider requests from lawyers and determine whether an adjournment or other accommodation is justified.
He said this approach was preferable to allowing lawyers to make unilateral decisions about whether court proceedings should take place.
“Legal vacations, thus, may be a good opportunity for lawyers … to get that well-deserved rest,” he said, adding that judges often accommodate such requests “upon request, on case-by-case basis”.
According to him, a lawyer who wishes to take a break should attend the proceedings and make a plea to the judge, who can then decide whether to grant the request fully, partially or refuse it in the interest of justice.
“The Judge will, in turn, consider the plea and, in the interest of justice, either grant the request (either wholly or in part) or refuse it altogether,” Dr Srem-Sai said.
He cautioned that allowing lawyers to determine in advance that they would not attend court could shift control over the administration of justice away from the judiciary and create significant implications for the management of cases.