Over the weekend, reports surfaced of a practicing attorney in Belize who has allegedly misrepresented his academic qualifications. While some have identified the attorney in question, our newsroom has withheld his identity as we further investigate the allegations. It is a curious situation, as only a few years ago, one of the attorney’s brothers had become embroiled in a case of fraud and misrepresentations. Love News spoke with the President of the Bar Association, William Lindo Junior, who stated that they will be convene a meeting this week to discuss the allegations and the way forward. Meanwhile, the President of the Association of Defence Attorneys, Dickie Bradley, gave Love News an interview, indicating that a thorough investigation would have to be launched as the court usually does its due diligence.
Richard “Dickie” Bradley, Attorney: “I think we have to always be guarded in relation to information that circulates on the internet. It’s so hard to verify any of these matters. No name has been called and I hope no name is called unless there is actual evidence of some wrongdoing or some mischief afoot. But to say that there is an attorney who is practicing and is not licensed to practice that’s a very serious allegation. It’s defamatory and that is something that can easily be clarified. That is very easy. We have a large number of lawyers here, there is a register of every attorney who is called to the bar in a formal ceremony, we have a formal ceremony which is open to the public and the media. A person has to make an application to the court, that application to be admitted to practice law in the nation of Belize requires that it is supported by a number of verifiable documentation. You present your Bachelor of Law degree, you present your what we call your certificate of legal education a kind of misnomer because it requires two years at the Norman Manley Laws School in Jamaica and if you’re not from this region you attend the Hugh Wooding.”
As for the role that the ADA plays, Bradley says the onus would be on the Bar Association to investigate. He did say, however, that it would be incredible that an individual would appear in courtrooms posing as an attorney.
Richard “Dickie” Bradley, Attorney: “Now we are just an association. There is also a bar association and they would have been around longer than we are but it’s not just our small association with twenty eight or twenty nine members. There is a whole background towards persons coming forward. It is mind boggling to me that anybody would put on jacket and tie or haul on the robes of the senior courts of this country and appear in court and to….Belize is a small place come on. I mean you know that just sounds….so there would have to be an investigative journalism in relation to this matter and it is not any kind of deep investigation that is required. It is a straightforward matter. In fact I would want to suggest publicly to the media to in fact if they have additional information to make a start by speaking with the registrar of the Supreme Court, the registrar of the High Court in this country. The title is in the green book, the green pages and helpful information can be obtained from that. It’s kind of unfair that someone could just put out something and make those other people try to put a name to the allegation we all have no evidence of anything.”
According to the reports, the attorney in question has contradicted his legal qualifications and institutions attended on several occasions.
Attorney Allegedly Misrepresented Academic Credentials; Bar Association Investigating
