Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj said that the commission should look into the allocation of legal work by the state and state agencies and the effect it has on the legal profession, reports local newspaper The Guardian.

'Blatant bias'

Mr Maharaj – who added that the commission should report its findings within 21 days of its appointment – said: ‘The time is right to have such a Commission of Enquiry to make recommendations for Government’s conduct in relation to the legal profession and the effect of Government’s interference in the independence of the legal profession.’
He went on to add: ‘Blatant bias is being shown in many cases in who gets briefs. This is leading to a mad scramble in the legal profession—a dog-eat-dog fight to get legal work from the Government for all sorts of nasty rumours circulating about the retention of some of the lawyers.’

Damaging effect

The news comes amid a battle between former president of the country’s Law Association Karl Hudson-Phillips and the incumbent president Seenath Jairam.
Local media reports say Mr Hudson-Phillips accused the association president of a conflict in representing the country’s finance ministry during an on-going enquiry into the collapse of the Colonial Life Insurance Company at the height of the global financial crisis in 2009. Previously, Mr Jairam had acted for a group of Clico policy holders.
Mr Maharaj said the developments were having ‘a most damaging effect on the independence of the legal profession from the government.’