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Jus­tice Rol­ston Nel­son, SC, a re­tired judge of the Caribbean Court of Jus­tice (CCJ), has is­sued a call for re­form in Trinidad and To­ba­go’s le­gal pro­fes­sion, urg­ing at­tor­neys to re­store ci­vil­i­ty and adopt manda­to­ry con­tin­u­ous le­gal ed­u­ca­tion to ad­dress de­clin­ing stan­dards.

Speak­ing at the an­nu­al din­ner and awards cer­e­mo­ny of the Law As­so­ci­a­tion of T&T (LATT) on Fri­day, Nel­son re­flect­ed on the tra­di­tions of the 1970s com­pared with to­day’s prac­tices.

“When I start­ed prac­tice in 1975, bar­ris­ters wore wigs and nev­er shook hands,” he re­called. “Courts were not air-con­di­tioned, and when the judge dis­pensed with his gown, coun­sel did like­wise.”