Brunei needs more lawyers

FEWER complaints have been made against lawyers in the past year compared to 2007 and at least one has already been withdrawn.

This was noted by the President of Brunei Darussalam Law Society Muhammad Zainidi Abdul Hamid during the opening of Legal Year 2009 yesterday.

Last year, Muhammad Zainidi had commented on the difficulty of getting enough members to complete the four-member inquiry committee. This year, he highlighted the difficulty in organising the schedules of all four panel members so that they are able to hear a complaint. To ensure partiality, he added, the law states that members of the inquiry committee must comprise of two members of the law society, one legal officer from the Attorney General's Chamber and a prominent member of the business community or other professions.

The same difficulty may also arise in the disciplinary proceedings stage as it has the same structure as the inquiry committee, he said, adding that it should be noted that both these committees work independently from the law society itself. "We do not make our own judgements against our own members," he said.

It may be necessary for the society to look into the disciplinary process as a whole with the Chief Justice and the Attorney General's Chambers, as it has been acknowledged that the small number of practising lawyers is a contributing factor to the time taken in dealing with the complaints.