Koforidua, July 4, GNA - Nana Addo-Aikins, a Legal Practitioner, has stated that the Ghana Bar Association (GBA, is a voluntary lawyers Association which lawyers in the country may choose to join or not to join. He noted that the GBA's annual publications on the standing of its members were being mis-interpreted by certain sections of society to mean that Lawyers whose names did not appear in the publications or those who were not found or heard at the Association's meetings or ceremonies or th= ose who are not seen in robes during court sessions are not Lawyers in Good Standing.

Speaking to the GNA in Koforidua on Monday, Nana Addo-Aikins indicated that the term 93Lawyers in Good Standing" mentioned in the GBA's annua= l publications in the May 31 issue of the Daily Graphic, refers to 93paid-Up= " members of the association only.

He said the publication could not be a yardstick for assessing the status of Lawyers in much the same way as attendance of the association's meetings or ceremonies or the wearing of gowns in Court were not measuring rods for determining who a 93Lawyer in good standing is". Nana Addo-Aikins said the only body with the mandate to determine who a lawyer or a lawyer in good standing is, 93is the General Legal Council, bu= t not (without prejudice) the GBA".

He said his interview was to clear lingering doubts and wrong perceptions being harboured by certain sections of society on the GBA's mention of the term 93Lawyers in Good Standing" in its annual publicatio= ns on the standings of its members which had been causing members who did not belong to the association to suffer public ridicule and embarrassment. Nana Addo-Aikins therefore suggested to the GBA to make amends and set minds at ease, to prevent the recurrence of the serious damage which its annual publications were causing to the integrity of lawyers who did not belong to the association.