Public Defenders attend Judicial Training

Public Defenders from across Liberia are currently attending a quarterly judicial training in Kakata, Margibi County. The training is being facilitated by the James A. A. Pierre Judicial Institute in collaboration with the Legal Professional Development and Anti-Corruption Project under the auspice of the United States Agency for International Development or USAID.

It is being held at the Booker Washington Institute or BWI with participants coming from various parts of the country. The exercise, which started on Wednesday, 19 April is aimed at enhancing the capacity of Public Defenders and ends today, Friday, April 21. Among topics being taught include Preparation of Motions, Resistance, Judgment of Acquittal, Bill of Exceptions, Notice of Completion, Legal Memorandum and briefs as well as Pre-trail and Trial Procedures.

Others are Principles and Practices of Bail and Magisterial Court Jurisdiction.  Speaking to reporters on the campus of BWI on Thursday, the Training Coordinator of the James A. A. Pierre Judicial Institute, Attorney William B. Kollie, said the workshop is meant to continue the legal education of the participants, adding that the exercise is usually conducted four times yearly.

He said the training is triggered by the fact that there is always room for improvement on the job, noting that during the training, issues that pose serious challenges to lawyers are discussed and solutions are found to avoid reoccurrence. He said the trainees are about 34 in total from across the country.

Atty. Kollie narrates that the vision of the institute is to promote judicial excellence, something, which they hope to achieve at the end of the training. Meanwhile, some of the lawyers attending the training expressed appreciation for the workshop and hoped that it is supported to continue implementation quarterly as planned.

By Ramsey N. Singbeh, Jr. in Margibi-Editing by Jonathan Browne