Court sets aside 3yr ban of lawyer Francis-Xavier Sosu

The three-year ban handed to one of Ghana’s human rights lawyer, Francis-Xavier Sosu by the General Legal Council has been quashed, paving the way for him to practice law in the various courts. The Human Rights Court in Accra on Wednesday also set aside the one-year mentorship imposed on the popular lawyer. Mr. Sosu was in June last year given a three-year suspension by the General Legal Council and barred from practising as a lawyer for three years after the Council found him guilty of professional misconduct contrary to the code regulating legal practice in the country. READ: Lawyer Francis-Xavier Sosu gets 3yr ban for advertising himself The Council explained the suspension was the result of a complaint filed by one Francis Agyare, a client of Mr Sosu, at the Council accusing him and his law firm F-X Law & Associates of attempting to swindle him. But the Human Rights Court presided over by Justice Gifty Agyei Addo held Wednesday the charges of touting and personal advertisement based on which the GLC suspended the lawyer were not in accordance with the law. It followed the hearing of a of a judicial review application filed by Mr. Sosu on November 3, 2017. In the court’s view, the Disciplinary Committee of the GLC exceeded its jurisdiction because the offence and punishment are not defined in law and accordingly set aside the suspension of the lawyer. Mr. Sosu in December last year decended heavily on the Council, describing the body as one of the lawless institutions in the country that has been victimizing lawyers. In his view, members of the Council, which is the main regulatory body for the conduct and administration of legal education and profession in Ghana have formed a cartel which doesn’t regard due process in its work but good at intimidating young lawyers. READ: General Legal Council is “lawless” – Francis Xavier Sosu “…We have a system that seeks to, if you like, victimise lawyers. We have a system of people who have formed themselves into a cartel that would want to sit on lawyers; it’s the General Legal Council,” he told host of Onua FM’s morning show ‘Yen Sempa’, Bright Kwesi Asempa on December 8, 2017.   By 3news.com|Ghana]]>