Court Warns Lawyers to Stop Lying On Judges
18 March 2015, 7:12 pm Written by Micat Liberia
Published in
LINA Bulletin
(LINA) –The Presiding Judge of the Civil Law Court at the Temple of Justice in Monrovia, Judge Johannes Z. Zlahn, has warned lawyers to stop lying on judges for their negligence in pursuing their clients’ cases.
“This Court will not allow itself to become a scapegoat for the negligence of lawyers in failing to timely and zealously pursue their clients’ cases,” he said.
According to the Liberia News Agency, Judge Zlahn gave the warning in his charge at the opening of the March Term of the Civil Law Court at the Temple of Justice in MonroviaTuesday.
He pointed out that during the December 2014 Term of Court many party litigants complained that their cases had been in the court for several years, and in two cases, eight and nine years without litigation.
He noted that whenever they contacted their lawyers to inquire about the status of their cases, the lawyers always told them that they were trying to assign the cases, but the presiding judge had not assigned them.
He indicated that rather than telling their clients that they were negligent and derelict in the performance of their duties, they make the clients believe that it was the fault of the court that their cases have not been heard.
Judge Zlahn observed that when a person throws himself or herself at the mercy of a lawyer and relies on them to protect their rights, it behooves the lawyer to live up to the person’s expectation by effective representation.
He noted that lawyers' failure to do so erodes the person’s confidence in not only the lawyers but also in the justice system as a whole.