THE Chief Justice, Professor Ibrahim Juma has encouraged the new advocates to change their thinking, attitude and service delivery methods to fully exploit emerging employment opportunities.
Prof Juma made an appeal at the 68th ceremony to accept and receive 195 new advocates at Karimjee Grounds in Dar es Salaam on Thursday. The admission brings the number of advocates in the country to 11,637.
“If you continue holding the thinking of the previous era, the era that is dominated by the studies we acquire at the University, the kind of studies we get through the Law School, we will miss those opportunities and we will probably remain people who complain from time to time,” he said.
The Chief Justice said that time has come for advocates and young lawyers to accept the fact that the education they received at Universities and Law School did not prepare them to face the challenge of finding opportunities arising from changes occurring in the 21st Century.
He said that it is good for the lawyers to change their mindset by studying the environment to exploit the opportunities surrounding them, instead of waiting for them to arrive on a silver plate.
“You, as new advocates cannot see the new opportunities of the 21st century, if your attitudes, culture and understanding of the law are still of the 19th and 20th centuries,” said the Chief Justice.
Prof Juma pointed out that he has been always following discussions in social networks, unfortunately discovering that Tanzanian lawyers and advocates are still building their arguments using old vision and glasses that cannot see the opportunities being brought by globalisation and the use of technology.
The Chief Justice also noted that lawyers and advocates have not been able to see opportunities arising from large investment projects, such as the Tanzania Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) and the Julius Nyerere Hydropower Plant (JNHPP), which aim to open employment opportunities not only within Tanzania, but also in other African countries.
“The other day, I was in Namibia, I spoke with the lawyers there, they say the construction of SGR is an opportunity and they are starting to look at how they will come to provide services here in Tanzania. When they hear that there is a large power station that will create industries, they see opportunities that will connect Tanzania with other African countries,” he said.
The Chief Justice also noted that in recent years, the issues discussed in the Forum Meetings of the Chief Justices of South African and East African countries are a clear example that the Courts in Africa have decided to change their thinking and attitudes.