Mickela Panday condemns Silk’s ‘hypocrisy’; LATT suggests reform

Patriotic Front leader Mickela Panday spoke about the selection process for the position of senior legal advisor in the country.

In a statement via social media, Panday said there was an element of hypocrisy in the Silk award, regardless of which political party was in power, but added that some of the Silk awardees actually deserved the honor.

The Law Society of Trinidad and Tobago (LATT) also spoke on this matter, reiterating its call for a method of selecting and appointing senior counsel independent of the exclusive choice of the executive:

“…LATT reiterates that the Association has been consistently calling for many years to reform the method of selecting and appointing a senior advisor so that it is not based solely on the choice of the executive, that is, in effect, the Prime Minister, in a transparent and independent process that includes responsibility.”

“The historic process of appointing Senior Counsel was featured in the Trinidad and Tobago Gazette of Saturday, February 15, 1964, titled “Queens Solicitor Appointment Procedure.”

“It provides that the appointments should be made by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister.

“Members wishing to be appointed would submit their applications to the Attorney General, who would consult the President of the Supreme Court and such other persons or bodies as he considered necessary, but would not be obliged to do so.

“Following consultation, the Attorney-General will make his recommendations to the Prime Minister, who will advise the Governor-General on what appointments should be made.”

“In 1977, the then Attorney General caused the Trinidad and Tobago Gazette to publish criteria that candidates had to meet, including:

• Professional excellence and distinction
• Solid intellectual abilities and in-depth, comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge of law and practice in the areas in which they practice
• Outstanding ability as a lawyer in which they practice
• Outstanding legal skills in higher courts
• The highest professional position
• Total professional integrity
• Maturity of judgment and balance
• High quality practice for at least 10 years in higher courts.

“Ultimately, however, the elections remain the sole responsibility of the Prime Minister and may therefore be subject to accusations of political bias.

“There is no indication of how often candidates should be invited or any guidance on how many people will be accepted under each invitation.

“It has not been indicated what categories of applications will be accepted in each call for proposals.

“There is no indication of the different categories of applications that would be awarded, such as eminent and senior practicing lawyers, eminent lawyers who practice mainly outside the courts of persons holding high positions such as heads of departments in the state.

LATT stated that it had produced a document entitled “Report of the 29th Council on the Appointment of the Senior Legal Adviser”, adopted at the 2015 LATT General Meeting, which recommends, among other things, a transparent procedure for the appointment of the Senior Legal Adviser.

LATT said that under this document, appointments would be made by the President on the recommendation of an independent panel consisting of the Chief Justice, the Attorney General, three judges of the Supreme Court and three senior advisers appointed by LATT.

LATT stated that since then and before, it and subsequent AGs have been calling for reforms, but to no avail.

“As is often the case, Trinidad and Tobago has become mired in our archaic and inherited colonial processes while Britain itself has moved to better practices.”

LATT said other Commonwealth countries had moved to more transparent silk selection processes.

LATT said it was once again calling for the adoption of the recommendations contained in its report to ensure a transparent selection process.