JAMAICA’S three newest King’s Counsel have been urged by senior judicial leaders to use their elevated status to push for the abolition of the UK Privy Council as the island’s final appellate court, while advancing the work of the judiciary and upholding the dignity of the legal profession.

That commission, delivered during Tuesday’s call to the Inner Bar ceremony at the Supreme Court in downtown Kingston fell to Director of Public Prosecutions Claudette Thompson, deputy solicitor general at the Attorney General’s Chambers Lisa White, and attorney-at-law and politician Oswest Senior-Smith.

Retired former president of the Court of Appeal Justice Seymour Panton, delivering remarks on behalf of his colleagues, bluntly told the new appointees what he believed their first course of duty should be.

“I have listened to the declarations [made in the ceremonial oaths] by the new King’s Counsel where they are going to be giving advice to the King, I want to suggest that they consider giving advice to the powers that be in Jamaica in respect of our final court because the authorities have been receiving poor advice over the years in respect of retaining the Privy Council, so I want them to reflect,” Panton said.

“There was a time when there was great objection to a Faculty of Law being established in the Caribbean, and had it not been for those who had wisdom and foresight we wouldn’t have the many good lawyers we now have.

So, I urge new King’s Counsel, existing King’s Counsel and other lawyers to put their minds to giving advice that there is no alternative to the Caribbean Court of Justice, it’s as simple as that,” Panton declared.

He also dismissed any suggestion of that final appellate court being established here in Jamaica.

“To say that we want our final court here is a pipe dream.

It took years of championing for there to be even a semblance of resources being provided to the existing Court of Appeal much less to be thinking of another Court of Appeal here.

So please, give your advice that it is nonsensical to be thinking that after 60-odd years we should still be in the colonial state of having our final court in England.

You would be doing posterity a good service if you help to get rid of the Privy Council,” Panton said in capping his remarks.

Head of the judiciary Chief Justice Byran Sykes, who led the 13-member panel which presided over the ceremony, charged the new silks to use their prowess to shorten cases while encouraging them to mine for the hardest and unpopular cases.

“Names change with sovereigns and constitutions and what endures is the substance, that a profession publicly identifies those to whom the heaviest cases, the heaviest responsibilities, may safely be entrusted.

King’s Counsel, they are expected to be leaders in more ways than one, so you have not been given this as a reward for the past, even though it has an impact; you have been given an obligation for the future.

The Crown once bound its counsel to its own service, that is no longer the case and the nation now expects you to be of wide service to the courts, to the profession, and to the country at large,” Justice Sykes said.

Reminding the trio that they are “now in the front row” where they “have pre-eminence and audience”, Sykes told them to “use it to sharpen issues, not to prolong them, to shorten trials and not to multiply adjournments”.

“The lists are long and a silk who does this wastes the court’s time and the public’s time,” said Justice Sykes as he encouraged the new King’s Counsel to take difficult and unpopular cases.

“The styles may differ and the styles may be grating, and so on, but it is an essential function, and so, as King’s Counsel now, you are expected to lead in that regard,” he said..

He further encouraged the group to use their voice to bring clarity where rulings appear controversial.

“The Bar here in Jamaica has produced many eminent lawyers and something we need to remember at times is that when a judge is attacked unfairly, or a judgement is misrepresented, it would be helpful if the advocates, especially King’s Counsel took the lead in correcting misunderstandings and misperceptions,” Sykes said.

Appeal Court President Marva McDonald-Bishop congratulated the three on their elevation and urged them to “lead with humility, courage and respect”.

“Your appointment recognises your work at the Bar and the trust placed in you to uphold its standards.

The meaning of King’s Counsel lies neither in the silk robe that you will wear nor the place in which you sit in court, it lies in the responsibility that comes with this honour, and your silk robe might be a distinction, it places you at the front but it also places you at the forefront of what is important to the legal profession and the advancement of the law in this jurisdiction,” she pointed out.

She further implored the three to set an example worth following by juniors in the profession.

“Let it not be the fees that you charge that is the example that you set, and do not become so elevated that you are inaccessible to those that are still climbing.

Share what you know, correct without humiliating persons, and open doors, as others have opened doors for you.

Your success should be measured in part by those you help along the way.

I need not say it calls for integrity and humanity, but what it asks you to do is, you must seek to safeguard collegiality,” she urged.

The Calling to the Inner Bar Ceremony is a time-honoured tradition for members of the legal fraternity who have distinguished themselves in the field and in service to their country.

Individuals are appointed King’s Counsel in Jamaica on the recommendation of several bodies, after which their recommendations are submitted to the governor general for his assent.