Signed this 1st day of December, 2004.

ALHAJI AHMAD TEJAN KABBAH,

President.

The Legal Practitioners (Amendment) Act, 2004.

Being an Act to amend the Legal Practitioners Act, 2000.

[19th December, 2004]

Enacted by the President and Members of Parliament in this
present Parliament assembled.

1. Section 15 of the Legal Practitioners Act, 2000 is repealed
and replaced by the following:-

"Exemptions 15. (1) Subject to subsection (2), the
Council may admit to practise law in Sierra Leone
any applicant who satisfies the Council that -

(a) he has been admitted and enrolled as a legal
practitioner in any Commonwealth country
approved by the Council; and

(b) he has practised law in such country for a
period of not less than ten years; and

(c) he is a fit and proper person to be granted
exemption from the requirements of section
10.

(2) An application under subsection (1) shall not be
granted unless the applicant is a citizen of a Commonwealth country
which lias legal provision for granting an exemption which is-

(a) similar to subsection (1); and

(b) applicable to citizens of Sierra Leone.

(3) Notwithstanding subsection (2), a person referred to
in paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (1) shall be granted an
exemption from the requirements of section 10 in respect of his
employment as a legal practitioner either in the Judicial and Legal
Service or otherwise in the service of the State, while he remains so
employed".

2. Sections 3 6 and 3 7 of the principal Act are hereby repealed
and replaced by the following sections:-

"36. (1) After holding an inquiry into a disciplinary case, the
Disciplinary Committee shall submit a report of the inquiry to the
Council in which it shall state whether the allegations inquired into
have been proved, and if it so states, it shall recommend to the Council
to take any of the following disciplinary measures against the legal
practitioner:-

(a) to have his name deleted from
the Roll of Court; or

(b) to suspend him from practising
as a legal practitioner for such a
period as it thinks fit; or

(c) to impose a fine not exceeding
one million leones, as it thinks
fit, recoverable by the Secretary
in the High Court as a civil debt;
or

(d) to censure him:

Provided that it shall be lawful for the Council, in the case of
a legal practitioner who has been convicted by a court of competent
jurisdiction of an offence involving fraud or dishonesty -

(a) to suspend him from practice
while he pursues an appeal
against such conviction, if any;
and

(b) to delete his name from the Roll
of Court after he has exhausted
his right of appeal against such
conviction, if any.

(2) Without prejudice to subsection (1), the Disciplinary
Committee may, after the inquiry, make such order as to cost as it
thinks fit.

(3) The Council may, if it thinks fit, postpone either
indefinitely or for a specified period, the making of its decision whether
to take the disciplinary measures recommended by the Disciplinary
Committee under subsection (1).

(4) The Disciplinary Committee shall, at the end of each
inquiry, record its findings and recommendations to the Council in
writing which shall be signed by the Chairman and kept by the
Secretary.

(5) No member of the Council or Disciplinary Committee
shall be liable to any action, suit or other legal proceeding for any
thing said or done by him during an inquiry or pursuant to any
recommendation made after an inquiry.

37. (1) Where, upon the recommendations of the Disciplinary
Committee, the Council decides to take any disciplinary measures,
the legal practitioner into whose conduct the inquiry was made shall
be notified accordingly and he may, within three months from the
date on which the decision of the Council was communicated to him,
appeal to the Court of Appeal.

(2) Without prejudice to subsection (1), any party to the
inquiry aggrieved by any decision of the Council under subsection
(1) may also appeal to the Court of Appeal.

(3) An appeal under subsection (1) shall operate as a
stay of the decision appealed against."

Passed in Parliament this 25th day of November, in the year of our Lord two
thousand and four.

J. A. CARPENTER,
Clerk of Parliament.

This Printed Impression has been carefully compared by me with the Bill
which has passed Parliament and found by me to be a true and correct printed copy
of the said Bill.

J. A. CARPENTER,
Clerk of Parliament.

Printed and Published by the Government Printing Department, Sierra Leone.
Gazette No. 69 of 9th December, 2004.