News / National
Law Society of Zimbabwe challenges govt on pro bono lawyers
16 Aug 2017 at 09:07hrs | Views
THE Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ) has challenged government to review its policy on pro bono lawyers funding, as part of the efforts to ensure effective justice delivery system.
Government pulled away its funding about two decades ago.
A pro deo or pro bono lawyer is an attorney who undertakes voluntarily work without payment to those who are unable to afford.
Speaking in Bulawayo, LSZ executive secretary, Edward Mapara told the Daily News that some of their members who take pro bono cases were going through a hard time.
"While the system is there and is working, you will have to understand that initially the pro deo was funded by government, that is no longer happening because the minimum fee that was supposed to be paid to the lawyer is no longer coming," he said.
"The lawyers are giving their services for free," he bemoaned, adding that "over and above, the lawyers also incur expenses which are no longer being reimbursed".
Pro bono lawyers are allocated cases by the High Court Registrar.
Mapara gave an example of the Hwange circuit, which he said the lawyers travel from Victoria Falls, about 100km away, to provide a service.
This, he said, did not also give adequate briefing time between the lawyer and the client, which eventually results in the lawyer failing to effectively represent his or her client.
Mapara said this did not only affect the effective delivery of justice, but also had a negative impact on the image of the legal practitioner.
".…because of this distance, which no one is going to finance, we end up having to meet in limited time and certainly we cannot have adequate preparations. You then have a lawyer who is inadequately prepared and you think the fault is his or her yet it's not."
Due to that, Mapara challenged government to at least come up with a funding mechanism to save the situation.
"Therefore, my recommendation is, apart from coming up with a funding mechanism which at least will address the reimbursement for expenses, we also need a mechanism that allows lawyers to adequately have more time with their clients such that the lawyer can be able to build his defence and be able to contact on site inspection at the scenes of the crime and be able to build a credible defence outline.
"If you don't have that, you certainly won't give the best and this is a life and death issue, we still have the capital punishment. So if you are going to defend a person who will face capital punishment and should he/she be convicted, I think it's only fair to give it your all," he said.
Government pulled away its funding about two decades ago.
A pro deo or pro bono lawyer is an attorney who undertakes voluntarily work without payment to those who are unable to afford.
Speaking in Bulawayo, LSZ executive secretary, Edward Mapara told the Daily News that some of their members who take pro bono cases were going through a hard time.
"While the system is there and is working, you will have to understand that initially the pro deo was funded by government, that is no longer happening because the minimum fee that was supposed to be paid to the lawyer is no longer coming," he said.
"The lawyers are giving their services for free," he bemoaned, adding that "over and above, the lawyers also incur expenses which are no longer being reimbursed".
Pro bono lawyers are allocated cases by the High Court Registrar.
Mapara gave an example of the Hwange circuit, which he said the lawyers travel from Victoria Falls, about 100km away, to provide a service.
This, he said, did not also give adequate briefing time between the lawyer and the client, which eventually results in the lawyer failing to effectively represent his or her client.
Mapara said this did not only affect the effective delivery of justice, but also had a negative impact on the image of the legal practitioner.
".…because of this distance, which no one is going to finance, we end up having to meet in limited time and certainly we cannot have adequate preparations. You then have a lawyer who is inadequately prepared and you think the fault is his or her yet it's not."
Due to that, Mapara challenged government to at least come up with a funding mechanism to save the situation.
"Therefore, my recommendation is, apart from coming up with a funding mechanism which at least will address the reimbursement for expenses, we also need a mechanism that allows lawyers to adequately have more time with their clients such that the lawyer can be able to build his defence and be able to contact on site inspection at the scenes of the crime and be able to build a credible defence outline.
"If you don't have that, you certainly won't give the best and this is a life and death issue, we still have the capital punishment. So if you are going to defend a person who will face capital punishment and should he/she be convicted, I think it's only fair to give it your all," he said.
Source - dailynews
