An urgent remedy has to be found by the authorities-that-be to coordinate much better the various court cases that are pending, before different Halls, before different magistrates or judges, on different floors and in separate buildings, but having the same lawyer who has to cope with them.

It is extremely frustrating not only for the clients involved (especially if they are parte civile), to have to accept what in their minds may be considered as an unjust decision on any matter simply because their lawyer has not appeared as he or she was occupied in another Hall, on a different floor, or in a separate building, and without there being any coordinated, official means of instant communication, such as paging!

Many judges and magistrates, themselves well experienced in normal day-to-day

practice at our Courts of Justice, do their very best to accommodate, if informed in time by the parties involved. However, it does happen that, on a number of occasions, persons who are less alert as to the functioning of our Courts of Justice fall into the trap of remaining outside the particular Hall, believing realistically that their lawyer will fall down from the ceiling and be there at the moment their case is called.

This calls for a better coordination of court cases. What I would suggest is that we have a centralised place at our Courts of Justice where lawyers with a number of cases on the same day can inform the appointed coordinator as to where they will be during their scheduled appointed cases, so that this coordinator can inform the respective deputies of the particular judge or magistrate that the lawyer is at the Courts of Justice, but before another Hall, and give the relevant details.

In this context, it is easy to understand how the parties involved feel when their lawyer is not present at the moment the case is called, but similarly the lawyer is equally frustrated when the case is called and he or she is not there at that particular moment, at times with negative consequences one way or another.

So, in the interests of justice, let each interested party do his or her very best to

better coordinate court cases so that justice is not only done but, as is often said, is seen to be done!

Emmy D. BEZZINA

Chairman-ALPHA: partit politiku

VALLETTA