Reverend Canon Michael Woods (centre) conducting the special service marking the beginning of the Legal Year 2020 at St Thomas’ Cathedral, Kuching on Saturday.
KUCHING: Some 100 Christian lawyers attended a special service here at the St Thomas’ Cathedral, marking the beginning of the Legal Year 2020.
Despite a rainy Saturday morning, the special one-hour service started at 8.30am sharp with the attending lawyers donning their black robes and court dress.
Lawyer Arthur Lee explained that a Legal Year is an old English judicial ceremony, whereby at the end of the Michaelmas term, a Christian term, the court will have a procession to the church.
“It is a formal procession to go to church, to seek blessings and guidance and in doing so they also hope the judges listen to what is being said.
“This is the first time the Anglican church in Sarawak is holding this special service. Sarawak has been observing Legal Years for the past 15 years,” he said.
The Legal Year is divided into four terms, namely the Hilary term at the beginning of the year, lasting for four months from January to April, followed by the Easter term, Trinity term and the Michaelmas term.
The Advocates Association of Sarawak (AAS) Kuching branch on Jan 17 will be hosting the Sarawak-Sabah ‘Legal Year 2020’ procession here, expected to be attended by some 500 lawyers from both states.
When paying a courtesy call to Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg last Tuesday, AAS Kuching chairman Desmond Sahathevan told reporters that he hoped to get 400 to 500 lawyers to attend the procession and also the gala dinner in the evening.
“I think last year, there were about 500 lawyers attending the event in Kota Kinabalu – we expect about the same number for this year,” he said.
Scheduled to kick off at 7am, the procession – themed ‘Justice and Beyond’ – would have participants marching from the new Sarawak State Legislative Assembly Complex to the nearby Kuching Court Complex, said Sahathevan.
After the procession, there will be an official court ceremony.
“Our guests at the ‘Legal Year’ ceremony will include representatives of foreign bars and international advocate associations.
“Before the Legal Year event, there will be a national colloquium on ‘Excess to Justice’ this Jan 16, organised under the United Nations Development Programme,” said Sahathevan.