Chief Justice Gertrude Esaaba Torkornoo says judicial officers and court officials must set certain ethical standards and possess some form of integrity that will weed out public thoughts that court officials must be bribed or paid extra money to get a job done.

According to her, diligence, integrity, compliance with law and avoidance of criminal conduct will make the arena of dispute resolution a safe space not just for lawyers but for the public that is being served.

 “Diligence, Integrity, independence of mind and research will also weed out the horror of the public expecting their counsel to be paid fees and be given extra money, ostensibly to bribe court officials and judicial officers,” she said.

Speaking at the 2023 Ghana Bar Conference at the University of Cape Coast, Mrs. Torkornoo said that commitment to ideals of independent research, identity and reputation of judicial officers will guide them to quality of work that responds to any form of corporate review and litigation.

 “Let us bring our minds to the laws that bind us, let us appreciate that there are a whole lot of laws that require us to deliver our work in very ethical models.”

“Independence of mind demands personal diligence in order to produce well thought-out work, that can proudly carry our name, our signature and license number,” she said.

She indicated that, there is only one function of the law, which is to build strong, harmonious and stable society that can be inherited by the future generation, therefore judicial officers should always bear that in mind and strive to attain this goal.

“Law has only one function, to build strong, harmonious and stable societies and my earnest appeal is for the legal community to keep this singular goal before us despite any other differences in functions and roles that we may have.”

“So whether you’re functioning from the bar, or from the bench, or functioning as corporate advisor, let us bear in mind that the purpose of the law is to only build strong harmonious and stable society that our children can inherit and nothing else,” she reiterated.

The Ghana Bar Conference is an annual conference and this year's edition took place on Monday, September 11, 2023 at University of Cape Coast in the Central Region, Ghana.

The Conference was attended by many dignitaries including the President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and other executives of the Ghana Bar Association.