As Noble Second Floor climaxed retreat in Bong County
The former Dean of the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law, Cllr. T. Negbalee Warner has urged legal practitioners here to uphold the rule of ethics, integrity and professionalism in their practice.
Delivering the keynote address at the just ended Noble Second Floor retreat in Gbarnga, Bong County over the weekend, Cllr. Warner said integrity is not collectively bargained but is rather a personal choice and a personal decision".
He advised members of the Noble Second Floor to make the personal decision to always maintain integrity in all that they do regardless of the circumstance.
The immediate past Dean of the Law School also admonished lawyers to endeavor to work hard for as the saying goes "there is no food for lazy man" and that they must seek to collaborate, learn to stand alone if their moral value demand it and should not be coerced by circumstances or friends.
Cllr. Warner averred that currently there are about 600 licensed lawyers, more than 200 law school students and about 300 or more people applying for law school admission annually.
This, he explained means more people want to be part of the legal system but there is a scarcity of law firms or other major employers to accommodate such high number.
He said such scarcity of chances, earnings and opportunities leads to what he calls making it temptation which can only be resisted by personal choice, efforts and work habits.
Other speakers at the programs: Cllr. Jamal C. Detho, Vice President of the Liberian National Bar Association; Cllr. Abrahim B. Sillah, Sr Managing Partner at HPA and Attorney Johnathan Flomo, County attorney of Bong County who all served as panelists stressed networking as key in the legal profession.
In their panel discussion, the senior lawyers lectured on topics such as integrity and the law, networking, and its importance in the legal profession, etc. Cllr. Detho, expanding on Cllr. Warner's Keynote Address emphasized the importance of having integrity and being honest, respectful to fellow law students, lawyers, the courts, and country.
Speaking on networking, Cllr. Sillah called on members of the NSF to see networking as an important tool as one cannot live in isolation but must make a conscious decision to know what network they want to be a part of.
He cited the Noble Second Floor as a network that students and graduates of the Law School have established to support intellectualism, scholarliness, and to bring people together to assist them in providing better understanding of the law and enhance the legal practice in Liberia. He said that network and net worth are your interactions with others and the value you either bring to the interaction or derive from others.
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For his part Atty. Johnathan Flomo provided a detailed update on his activities in Bong County and his experience and challenges as County Attorney. He highlighted the work done by the Prosecution Team in Bong County as being second to Montserrado in terms of cases won and indicted.
The retreat climaxed on Sunday the 18th of September 2022 with a visit to the Bong County Central Prison and the Phebe Hospital mass grave, one of many mass grave sites of victims of the Liberian Civil War.
At the central prison, the Second Floor interacted with prisoners and prison officials and donated food and non-food items. The Prison Supervisor, Mr. Richard Morluba disclosed the many challenges they are faced with, including the overcrowdedness of the prison and the limited staff committed to execute their functions.
Established in 2019 by a group of nine (9) male students now called the Vision Bearers, The Noble Second Floor is a campus-based organization of the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law, comprising dedicated law students, Professors, lawyers and Judges who are committed to service, academic excellence and contribution towards Liberia's only school providing legal education to both national and international students and the legal community at large.
