Lawyers slammed for unashamed attack on judiciary

Pretoria – It has become fashionable for legal practitioners to take off their velvet gloves and unashamedly attack judicial officers or the judiciary when they are not happy with the judgments.

This is according to Mpumalanga Judge President Frans Legodi, who has had enough of lawyers disrespecting the courts.

The judge did not take kindly to remarks made by attorney Lufuno Ramarumo and her advocate, only named as Zwane, in which they had accused him of being on a “mere joy-ride on an ego-trip”. They were trying to appeal an order which the judge had made against Ramarumo.

They called his judgment “irrational” and said he should personally pay the legal costs for her leave to appeal application.

It all started when Judge Legodi ordered Ramarumo to personally foot the legal bill for two wasted court days in a Road Accident Fund (RAF) matter.

Ramarumo was the correspondent attorney in a case where a woman sued the RAF. She thus had to ensure that the case was ready to be heard, and that counsel who was supposed to act in the matter, was appointed.

But when the case was called, no one pitched. The matter was stood down for counsel to arrive at court, but still no one pitched.

Ramarumo was then summoned by the judge to appear in court the next day to explain what was happening, but she still did not pitch. The judge then ordered her to personally foot the bill for wasted costs.

This prompted Ramarumo in her appeal bid to accuse the judge, among others, of being “on a joy ride” and “on an ego trip”.

She and her advocate, whom she had appointed for the appeal bid, argued that as a correspondent attorney, she was a mere “post box” and not the one who had to appear in court.

Zwane even went further and told the judge that it was “common sense” that a corresponding attorney’s function was to perform the function of a post box – simply receiving correspondence regarding a case.

The judge remarked that “throughout the proceedings, Mr Zwane argued his ‘common sense and post box’ principle almost like it takes precedence over every relevant rule of court or code of conduct.”

The judge said he had summonsed Ramarumo to court to explain her position as to why the case against the RAF could not continue. But she did not pitch, and therefore he awarded a cost order against her.

In turning down her leave to appeal and her “disrespect” towards the judiciary, the judge said: “There have been numerous instances recently where counsels have behaved with astounding discourtesy to the Bench, seeking, it would appear, to intimidate judges …”

He added that this undermined the integrity of the legal system and questioned whether the legal watchdogs – the Legal Practice Council and the Bar Council – would act against its members.

“It is a safe bet that the Bar Council or the Legal Practice Council will do absolutely nothing to examine the conduct,” the judge said.

But the Legal Practice Council said it had noted the judgment and would act decisively against any legal practitioners who contravened the Code of Conduct, said Kathleen Matolo-Dlepu, its chairperson. “Conduct by a legal practitioner of the nature described in this judgment shows a complete lack of respect for the judiciary and it is completely unacceptable … We are disheartened by the number of reports of legal practitioners who undermine the court processes while knowing full well the steps that can be followed, should they not be in agreement with court outcomes,” Matolo-Diepu said.

Pretoria News