LAHORE (PRESS RELEASE): Trial lawyers in capital cases are fundamental to reforming the criminal justice system and ensuring safe convictions, said Azam Nazeer Tarrar, advocate of the Supreme Court and member of the Pakistan Bar Council, at a seminar titled “American Bar Association’s Guidelines in Capital Cases”.
The seminar was organised by Hafiz Ansar-ul Haq of the Punjab Bar Council and Justice Project Pakistan on Monday.
Commenting on the role of lawyers in capital cases, Advocate Tarrar emphasized the need to train lawyers to effectively litigate capital cases. Former director of the American Bar Association Death Penalty Representation Project Robin Maher was keynote speaker at the event. Her presentation provided insight to the legal community in Pakistan about the latest international developments and jurisprudence in the field of trials for capital offenses. In addition to direct representation, Maher's experience includes training judges and defence lawyers on the fundamentals of effective capital defence; legal reform efforts with legislators; systemic litigation in jurisdictions that fail to provide necessary defence services; strategic assistance and support to capital defence teams; expert witness testimony; and recruitment of pro bono lawyers from civil law firms. American Bar Association guidelines are the recognised standard of care for the defence lawyers in death penalty cases and provide detailed guidance for capital defenders about the essential elements of effective representation.
These guidelines are also used to assess counsel performance during appellate review and to understand the necessary qualifications, funding, and resources for the defence team at trial and in post-conviction proceedings.
Ahsan Bhoon, Vice Chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council, commenting on the need for change in Pakistan’s justice system stated, “We will form a subcommittee of the Free Legal Aid Committee of the Pakistan Bar Council in order to devise a set of minimum standards which will be presented in a working paper to other stakeholders in order to initiate reform.”
Sarah Belal, Executive Director of Justice Project Pakistan, stated: "We are very encouraged to see the positive response of the bar councils, who realise that capital cases require the highest standard of due diligence. We hope that this will lead to better representation of Pakistan’s most vulnerable citizens.”