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GOB Moves To Bar Mandatory Bar Membership
posted (September 5, 2014)
Earlier on, you saw the discussion in the House of Representatives about crime - but that was about it for across the floor fireworks today - in what was mostly an unremarkable House Meeting.

But there was important legislative business, namely the introduction of two prices of long - anticipated legislation, namely the Firearms Amendment Bill and the Legal Profession Amendment Bill.

The Legal profession bill seeks to install the Chief Justice as the chairman of the general legal council and to make it so that lawyers no longer have to be members of the bar association. The Prime Minister discussed both:..

Jules Vasquez
"Is this a symptom of your fatigue with the Bar Association? You have said that it is instrumentalize by a group of PUPs."

Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"I think it's a combination of two things. That definitely is one ingredient but as well the question of whether it is constitutional to oblige people who are earning their living by being members of a particular profession to have to belong to one association. Some question has arisen as to whether that is constitutional and I will tell you that we are going to be looking at other professional associations. I don't know if it's the same situation for example with the association of chartered accountants, the same with the association of professional engineers - whether it is that you cannot absolutely practice as an accountant, practice as an engineer expect you belong to these associations. All that will happen is the association will continue in the case of the Bar and except or unless and until some other association is formed by those who don't want to belong to the Bar Association. It is the Bar Association that will be treated with where any structural arrangements require representation from lawyers. Principally we will still look to the Bar Association, but very simply it means that I can practice law without paying the fee and without joining the Bar Association."

Jules Vasquez
"Will you resign from the Bar or stop paying your Bar fee?"

Prime Minister Dean Barrow
"I will most as surely do so sir."

That bill was only introduced today, so there was no debate. Public consultations will now follow.

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