THE REPUBLIC v. JUSTICE ANIN YEBOAH & ORS EX PARTE: FRANCISCA SERWAA BOATENG

RULING

The need to uphold legal professional standards, the administration and supervision of legal education, among others, were some of the lofty goals that precipitated the establishment of the General Legal Council (hereinafter simply referred to as the GLC) under the Legal Profession Act, Act 32 of 1960.

The 1st Respondent, a Justice of the Supreme Court and the chairperson of the Disciplinary Committee of GLC, the 2nd Respondent a Justice of the Court of Appeal whilst the 3rd to 5th Respondents are lawyers of renown within the jurisdiction and members of the Disciplinary Committee of the GLC. The 6th Respondent on the other hand is an office clerk of the GLC. The Respondents have been hauled before this court on a quasi-criminal charge of contempt wherein the Applicant, a lawyer in private practice is seeking an order for committal of the Respondents for contempt in what she claims that the Respondents have acted in a manner that is disrespectful of the court and calls for their punishment.

A background to this application would suffice to illume ones appreciation of this proceedings. The Disciplinary Committee being the statutory body mandated to investigate petitions and complaints from the public against lawyers to the GLC, one David Morrell claiming to be acting on behalf of its principal, VPS International Bv of Netherlands filed a complaint on the 22nd of January, 201 against the Applicant for overcharging his principal in terms of legal fees in a suit conducted by the Applicant before the High Court. As part of its routine procedure for investigating petitions filed against lawyers the Disciplinary Committee wrote to the Applicant for her response to the petition filed by Davis Morrell.

Applicant responded to the complaint on the 3rd of March, 2015 challenging the capacity of David Morrell to file the complaint on the ground that David Morrell had never been her client. VPS International BV subsequently issued a writ in Suit No CM/0066/15 at the Commercial Division of the High Court which suit is still pending. Desirous of performing its statutory duty by investigating the allegations made by David Morrell, the Disciplinary Committee invited the Applicant to appear before it whereupon the Applicant initially declined the invitation on the ground that in view of the pendency of Suit No CM/0066/15 before the court she was unable to appear before the Committee. From the exhibits attached to the application it appears that the Applicant made a