By Prior Beharry
THE Council of the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago (LATT) says that it had no discussions with Attorney General Reginald Armour, SC, on applications for senior counsel status.
In a release on Tuesday, it stated, “The LATT accordingly had no discussions whatsoever with the Honourable Attorney General on any applicant or the merits of any application for admission to the rank of Senior Counsel.”
LATT quoted an article on page 5 of the Newsday on Monday which stated: “Asked about the optics of some of the appointments, the AG replied, ‘I consulted with the CJ before I made my recommendations to the PM. I also spoke to Mrs Seebaran-Suite as LATT president, who, to her credit, recused herself because she was one of the names under consideration. She passed that baton to other senior members of LATT with whom I had discussions. So the optics are that it is a process which involves more than just the PM who makes the recommendation to the President, and the optics serve to ensure a fair, transparent consultative process.’”
It also quoted a story in the Trinidad Guardian that quoted Armour: “… after receiving the applications, he engaged in consultations with Chief Justice Ivor Archie and the Law Association before making recommendations to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.
“The Prime Minister, the Attorney General and the Law Association engaged in an exercise for a wide cross-section of members of the profession,”
The LATT stated that the Council of the LATT was invited by Armour to consult on the applications for admission to the rank of Senior Counsel, and a SubCommittee of the Council (excluding those members who had applied for admission) was established for consideration of the invitation to consult.
A decision was taken by the Sub-Committee to discuss, with Armour, the setting up of an independent committee headed by the Chief Justice to consider these applications.
The release stated that the sub-committee asked Armour for a meeting with Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to set up an independent committee to deal with applications to senior counsel.
LATT stated that it was informed in writing by Armour that Rowley refused the request.
President of the Law Association Lynette Seebaran-Suite was also being considered for “silk” but recused herself from the discussions when she was contacted by the AG. She passed on all matters to a sub-committee.
On Monday, President Christine Kangaloo conferred senior counsel status to 17 attorneys including her husband Kerwyn Garcia and brother Colin Kangaloo.
Seebaran-Suite was not present as her mother had passed away. She will receive her instruments of appointments senior counsel on a subsequent occasion.
