The president of IMANI Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe has charged the General Legal Council to reverse what he labeled as “harsh and lawless” the three-year-ban it slapped on human rights lawyer, Francis Xavier-Sosu.
The General Legal Council in a letter informing Lawyer Sosu of his ban stated that he was investigated and found guilty of professional misconduct.
“The disciplinary committee of the General legal Council formally charged Lawyer Sosu under Rule 2(4) of the legal profession (professional conduct and etiquette) Rules, 1969 L.I. 613 and that he; while acting as Council for Torgbui Afede XIV, in a matter between Torgbui Afede and the Chief of Defense Staff, minister of interior, Attorney General and another took to Facebook with pictures of the parties and comments on the case to the public with his firm’s name, address and telephone numbers attached, with the primary motive of personal advertisement and touting,” portions of the statement said.
It added: “He was further charged under Rule 2 (4) of the legal profession (Professional conduct and etiquette) Rule, 1996 L.I 613 that he; while acting as Counsel for Reynolds Yeboah, in the matter between Patrick Reynolds Yeboah and M.DEX company Limited in Accra, Ledzokuku-Krowor Municipal Assembly, Accra,Ghana, took to Facebook posting the writ of summons in the said case and made comments to the public with the firm’s name, address and telephone numbers attached, with the primary motive of personal advertisement.”
Lawyer Sosu, according to the letter, was convicted on his own plea of guilty on both counts.
But commenting on the development Mr. Cudjoe chastised the GLC for unfairly sanctioning the lawyer.
He posited in a Facebook post on Sunday, the procedure leading to the ban of the popular lawyer was not the best, saying: “I now understand why many lawyers in Ghana try to insert themselves into politically charged cases so they get noticed by the public. The reason is that, lawyers I’m told don’t have to advertise their trade. Is this sensible?”
He added: “I thought consumers must know what services they procure. Lawyer Francis Sosu appears to have been unfairly dealt with by the Legal Council on that score. The legal council must have been asleep all the time when their members spoke and still speak openly about cases in the media- effectively trying cases in the media. This is quite lawless. The legal council should review their lawless sentence of the gentleman.”
