AS the debate over the transparency of the process for the selection of attorneys to be conferred with senior counsel grows steam, another attorney has added to the chorus calling for reform.
Attorney Kelvin Ramkissoon, who applied in 2024, the second time in his legal career, took aim at the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago (LATT) in a letter to president Lynette Seebaran-Suite on June 21.
He said the association must come clean on its participation in the selection of the latest batch of 16 attorneys for silk, including three government members of parliament.
Ramkissoon said if LATT participated in or had any involvement in the process it had “surrendered its moral authority to comment, let alone deprecate the process.”
He was referring to a release by the association issued on June 21.
In its release, LATT renewed calls for the adoption of the recommendations of its 2015 “silk report” on the appointment of senior counsel “to ensure a transparent and independent process of selection at specified intervals which is not subject ultimately to the dictates of the executive.”
The association’s statement followed an avalanche of criticisms over the selection process.
In its release, LATT said, “Ultimately, however, the choices are at the sole discretion of the Prime Minister and, therefore, prone to the charge of political bias.
“There is no provision for how often applications are to be invited or guidance on the numbers that would be admitted at each call. There is no indication of the various categories of applications that would be awarded, for example, distinguished and senior practising advocates, distinguished attorneys who practise primarily other than in the courts or high office holders such as heads of departments within the State.”
The association said it has called for the reformation of the method of selection and appointment of senior counsel “away from the sole choice of the executive, in effect the Prime Minister, into a transparent and independent process which does not suffer from a lack of accountability.”
In 2015, the Law Association, then led by Reginald Armour (now Attorney General), passed a resolution that the award should be granted by the President on the recommendation of an independent panel.
The association’s resolution came after it compiled what is now referred to as the “silk report” on the issue, which strongly advocated for the independence of the profession and, in particular, the bar.
In 2018, the association again called for transparency in the process.
On June 17, President Christine Kangaloo outlined the selection process. She said the process was guided by the terms of the legal order 282 of 1964.
She said the process started with the Attorney General inviting attorneys to apply after which he would consult with the Chief Justice and “such other persons as he considers necessary.”
The AG would then recommend attorneys to the Prime Minister who would advise the President of those to be awarded silk.
In its release, the association said ther
