Over 330 Attorneys Offering Services Through Legal Aid Council

There are more 330 attorneys offering their services through the Legal Aid Council (LAC).

“They operate islandwide, so you will find attorneys from every parish on our list. We have junior counsel, senior counsel and we have Queen’s Counsel on our list,” Legal Officer with the LAC, Kerona Spence,” told JIS News.

She said that the LAC only engages senior counsels for “very serious matters”.

“For example, if a person is charged with murder, senior counsel must be advised, and for us a senior counsel is an attorney who is at the Bar for 10 years or more,” Ms. Spence noted.

She said that the LAC provides representation in court for criminal matters, where persons cannot afford an attorney.

Persons can also access the services of a duty counsel in cases where they are detained or arrested by the police.

Ms. Spence explained that the duty counsels “will make themselves available to assist during either the question-and-answer session or identification (ID) parade or to even make an application for station bail”.

She advised that for persons who are arrested or detained and are not able to afford an attorney, “they can ask the police to make contact with the LAC or ask the police to make contact with a duty counsel”.

“What the Legal Aid Council has done is we have tried as best as we can to provide police stations with a list of the attorneys who offer these services,” she pointed out.

The LAC is a statutory entity under the Ministry of Justice. The Council’s mandate is to administer an efficient and coordinated legal-aid system in Jamaica.

Persons seeking legal advice on any criminal or civil matter can call the Legal Aid Council at (876) 276-7544, (876) 595-6412, (876) 948-6999, (876) 948-7275, or (876) 967-1372.