The Founding President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, has described as harsh the 3-year-ban imposed on renowned human rights lawyer, Francis Xavier-Sosu by the General Legal Council. According to him, the Council must review the ban.
The General Legal Council (GLC) in a letter announced it had slapped the ban on lawyer Sosu for ‘overcharging’ a client and also for advertising his services on Facebook. But Franklin Cudjoe believes the sanction is unfair.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, he suggested that the GLC’s regulation that barred lawyers from advertising their services was not the best.
“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 quizzed.
“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,” he added.
According to the General Legal Council, lawyer Sosu charged his client GH¢50,000, which was “excessive” and an “overestimation” for the services rendered to the client in a human right case that saw the client receive a compensation of GH¢ 200,000, although he [Sosu] had told the client he was offering his legal services for free.
It said within the 3-year period, lawyer Francis Xavier Sosu “shall not hold himself out as a Legal Practitioner or attend Chambers, or render, or purport to render any professional legal service to any person whomsoever, wheresoever.”
The embattled lawyer, however, believes the sentence is unfair. He has since indicated to Citi News that he will appeal the decision today [Monday].
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