By Theresa Kef Sesay
On the 19th March, 2021 at the Freetown International Conference Centre at Aberdeen in Freetown the Chief Justice of Sierra Leone, who doubles as the Chairman of the Council of Legal Education, His Lordship Justice Desmond Babatunde Edwards, admitted 140 new lawyers to the Sierra Leone Bar after successfully passing their Bar final examinations.
Introducing the Chairman, Supreme Court Judge, Justice Alusine Sesay (JSC) told the motley crowd of eminent personalities that the Hon. Justice D.B Edwards is on record to be the first Chief Justice who has decentralised the justice sector by deploying resident Magistrates and Judges in almost all District headquarter towns.
He said Justice Edwards has also established the first three Divisions of the High Court using Constitutional Instrument No. 4 of 2019 to create the Industrial and Social Security Court; the Anti-Corruption Court and the Sexual Offences Model Court.
He described Justice Edwards as a ‘Developmentally Oriented Leader.’
In his address at the Call to Bar and Certification ceremony, His Lordship Justice Desmond Babatunde Edwards congratulated the new graduates for their hardwork, commitment and focus to becoming lawyers.
“Today marks an important day in your life in that you will not only be moving from the student stage to begin to earn for yourself in the legal work but beginning a life-long journey,” the Hon. Chief Justice said, adding “the future belongs to you. What you make of it will depend on your attitudes and applications. No requirement is more important than character and hardwork.”
He said over the years the Sierra Leone Law School has signalled its unique importance by turning out no less than the 1,127 graduates to be called to the Bar with the great majority turning out to be Barristers and Solicitors.
The Hon. Chief Justice said the Sierra Leone Law School started on 23rd February, 1990 after the establishment of the Council of Legal Education Act, No. 1 of 1989 and comprised 26 students from three sets of graduates from the Faculty of Law, FBC-Class of 1987, 1988 and 1989.
“Myself and quite a good number of us present at this ceremony were privileged to be in that 1990 class of pioneers,” he said, stating further that today the school has grown to the point where the Class of 2020 comprised 199 students. This year, he continued, the school will be having a class of over 200 students.
According to him, the school had produced two Chief Justices three Attorneys General. He said more students are applying now for admission into the Law School as they yield to the option of wanting to become Legal Practitioners.
He disclosed that the Council of Legal Education would be exploring and devising up-to-date state of the art strategies to make the school more accessible in District headquarter towns and abroad. One of such is the video conference class to link students in distant locations.
Commending the Hon. Chief Justice, the Guest Speaker, Justice Jon Kamanda said he was impressed with the massive reforms especially in opening the wider space for justice.
He admonished the new graduates to be courteous to their clients and always conduct themselves professionally.
The awarding of prizes to deserving lawyers climaxed the ceremony. The star graduate, Noeyia Gbatunde Kutubu Esq. received the Chief Justice’s Prize-Best Performance All Round and Yusuf Keketoma Sandi Esq. received the Attorney General’s prize, Best Performance in Law of Ethics.
Meanwhile, Lawyer Eke Ahmed Holloway received a plaque in recognition of his more than two decades dedicated services to the Law School. The plaque was presented by his former student, the current Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Anthony Y Brewah.
