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The bar association met last night and today President Eamon Courtenay told us that freedom of association is not always that simple:

Eamon Courtenay - President, Bar Association of Belize
"Since this matter has been raised, some of our members have done some research, and have already found cases where this specific matter has come up, and it has been found not to be unconstitutional. If we have persons performing legal, and they are not going to be regulated by an association, by an independent body, it is not going to be beneficial to Belize. It is not going to be beneficial to clients; it is not going to be beneficial to the Judiciary. The Bar was very disappointed in some of the things that have been said, some of the criticisms that have been leveled at the Bar. And we believe that the best way to deal with this is to seek to engage the Attorney General, seek to engage the Government on some their concerns."

Jules Vasquez
"One of the criticisms has leveled at the Bar - and I saw Mr. Smith write about it it as well - is that the Bar does not a). serve its members, or b). serve the public. It does not serve its members with continuing education - according to the Attorney General - and Mr. Smith, he proffered in a written piece it should offer some kind of help - some kind of website that maybe the public can access to help them through legal quagmires, land papers and that sort of thing. Is there any spirit in the Bar Asssociation to reform its ways."

Eamon Courtenay
"Jules, again - first of all, neither the Attorney General nor Mr. Smith attended the meeting yesterday. Neither of them attended the Annual General Meeting. It's quite easy to sit in your luxurious office and make these comments, but you need to come and participate. It is unfair and wrong to criticize the Association for being inactive. I don't know, Jules - to be quite frank - what are all the things that the Attorney General has said or done the Bar implemented. What I will say is this, unfortunately, according to the law of this country, he is a member of the General Legal Counsel. I don't think he has ever attended a meeting. According to the law of this country, he is a member of the Executive of the Bar. I don't think he has ever attended a meeting. So, it's very difficult for us, those of us who attend, those of us who participate, those of us who lift our hands and try to something, to hear these criticisms from the Attorney General, from Godfrey Smith, from whoever, if they are not going to participate. There is no law; there is nothing that is preventing anybody from forming another association today. If Mr. Smith, if Mr. Elrington, if any member feels that the Bar Association is not doing what they would like it to do, form an association right now, and do these things that they say should be done. Many of us give our time to the Bar, the Red Cross, the YWCA, to many other charities around Belize, and do all types of work. Many attorneys constantly do pro-bono work. Many attorneys represent people free of charge. We believe very firmly that if the Attorney General has these concerns, the first time I heard them was when he was saying them on the media. He said that he has not been to the Bar Association for many years. Well, if he had been coming, he would have been exposed to many of the things that we have been doing. But more importantly, let us look forward. Let us engage and deal with these issues as members of an association. I do not believe that it is in the interest of the profession that we should form 2, 3, 4 other associations, but I can tell you this. As I said last night, if they're going to form another association, then I will join it, and I will encourage everybody to join it as well. So that we will all be in this other association that is doing all these great things."

Some time ago, the Bar association also submitted to the AG's Ministry, a full review and report of the legal profession act- and suggests this should be looked at in the totality of a review.