LAW & DISORDER
Lawyers distance themselves from Champagnie’s stance on students’ photos
THERE IS division in the legal profession over attorney-at-law Peter Champagnie’s controversial lambasting of the Mona Law Society at The University of the West Indies, posting on social media, pictures of female students skimpily dressed.
Champagnie, in a scathing letter to the president of the society, last week expressed his disgust at pictures, labelling them vulgar and disgraceful and informed them that he would not participate in today’s Inaugural Legal Expo as was previously agreed.
The pictures were posted as a part of the Mr and Miss Law 2019 competition, which is being held under the theme ‘Jamaica Rewind: From a Taller Time’. The Mona Law Society said the photos were meant to pay homage to reggae and dancehall in Reggae Month.
But even as he has insisted
in an interview with The Gleaner last Friday that his problem was not with dancehall, the prominent attorney, who sits on the disciplinary committee of the General Legal Council, has been put under the spotlight, accused of shaming the students because they were showcasing a culture not pleasing to the eyes of the “uptown massive”.
Among those who fired back at the prominent attorney was Queen’s Counsel Valerie Neita Robertson, who suggested Champagnie might have a bias against dancehall, the prevailing pop culture in the country.
“Lawyers are not defined by the suits they wear. For Heaven’s sake, it’s a DANCEHALL COMPETITION,” Neita Robertson lectured on Twitter adding that “they (photos) really are creative expressions. I guess you would prefer carnival outfits”.
Using the same platform, Jamaican Bar Association (JBA) President Jacqueline Cummings suggested that persons who do not know the context of the photo shoot could be led to believe it was the personality of the students.
Bert Samuels also weighed in on the firestorm ignited by Champagnie, bemoaning the “young law faculty students being openly condemned for their act posted during Reggae Month”.
One junior counsel with less than five years at the Bar hit back at the renowned defence lawyer, calling Champagnie’s letter of objection to the posts self-righteous and high-handed.
UNMEASURED RESPONSE
“Mr Champagnie’s approach to the whole situation was high-handed, self righteous ,” Mark-Paul Cowan, attorney at-law at Nunes, Schofield and De Leon, said in an open letter to the JBA. “To describe the postings as disgraceful and reprehensible in a time where the legal profession has been rocked by scandals of much greater magnitude and consequence is clearly an unmeasured response by learned senior counsel.”
According to him, the context of their attire was important.
Cowan has called on JBA President Cummings to publicly condemn the manner in which “Mr Champagnie has rebuked and scarred these young students”.
He said it was a teachable moment, but instead, Champ agnie castigated and abandoned the students by deciding to withdraw his support for today’s expo.
But unlike Cow an, who has responded publicly to Champagnie’s letter, several attorneys-at-law with whom The Gleaner spoke did not agree with Champagnie’s stance.
One senior counsel said: “Thanks to Champ ag ni e’ s letter, me and some of my colleagues going to Mona today.”
Another senior attorney said, “The learned senior counsel is not the parents of these girls. So what’ s the problem? I bet you if it was a carnival outfit, there would be no problem.”
And still another said, “Lawyers are pissed about it. If you think something is wrong, call the society and deal with it and let them deal with the students.”
The Mona Law Society appeared shaken by the fiasco, saying in a statement that the young ladies who were captured in the photos were most damaged from the controversy.
“They are young students who entered a competition aimed at boosting confidence through test of their general and legal knowledge, speaking ability, fitness and creativity,” it said.