Training for judicial officers and lawyers

ISLAMABAD: Being a budding student of law and political science, I strongly believe that judicial and legal education and training is an essential element of judicial independence, as it helps to ensure the competency of the judiciary. It is an indisputable fact that the quality of the judicial and legal system is an essential component in achieving access to justice, and a key element in maintaining the high quality of the judiciary is judicial and legal education.

In Pakistan, the professional and ethical challenges that judicial officers and lawyers are exposed to seem to have increased over time. However, significant efforts are being taken so that all key stakeholders of the administration of the justice system, including the legal fraternity members, uphold the highest standards of integrity and professionalism. The Federal Judicial Academy in Islamabad, a premier judicial education training academy of the country, has the privilege of conducting several training courses for judicial officers, attorneys and court personnel. Recently, the academy conducted two combined training courses for judges and lawyers of Federal Capital Territory. I hope that similar training courses will be held in the future as well and would not only strengthen the knowledge of those being trained but also deepen their understanding of one another. Moreover, this will also help in creating a forum for judges and lawyers to consider a variety of ethical and professional problems and their appropriate responses. It is also my earnest belief that such combined trainings will greatly contribute towards cultivating healthy and harmonious relationships between two important players of the legal system, and as a result, there can be easy and speedy access to justice in this country.

Hashim Abro

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17^th,  2014.

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