The Public Defense Lawyers of Liberia have overwhelmingly elected Cllr. Bestman Darward Juah, Sr as president of the National Association of Public Defenders of Liberia (NAPDOL) by delegates in attendance at the Seventh Annual Convention of the National Association of Public Defenders of Liberia (NAPDOL) held at the Temple of Justice, Capitol Hill, Monrovia, Liberia.
Consequently, he and other elected officers were recently inducted into offices by the Secretary-General and President-elect of the Liberian National Bar Association (LNBA), Counsellor Bornor M. Vamah to lead NAPDOL for the next two years.
In his inaugural address to delegates of the convention, Cllr. Juah vowed amongst other things to provide transformational and accountable leadership during his tenure.
He further guaranteed that adequate legal representation of indigents and welfare of public defenders will be the hallmarks of his administration.
Besides, he assured delegates that his administration will constructively engage the national government through the Judiciary for additional budgetary support to the Public Defenders’ Program in addressing the challenges faced by Public Defenders including the lack of vehicles and harmonized salaries of public defenders.
Unlike judges and county attorneys – state prosecutors, public defenders do not have vehicles in all political subdivisions of the country.
They used commercial motorbikes amongst other things to obtain witnesses and other pieces of evidence for trials. Also, public defenders on a daily basis used commercial motorbikes as a means of transportation to courts.
Counsellor Bestman Darward Juah, Sr. is a Liberian and duly licensed to practice law in the Republic of Liberia.
As a member of the Supreme Court Bar and the Liberian National Bar Association (LNBA) respectively, he actively practices before the Honourable Supreme Court of Liberia, specialized and circuit courts, magisterial courts and administrative agencies respectively.
Counsellor Juah worked with the Supreme Court of Liberia as Research Officer and assigned to the Chambers of Justice Jamesetta Howard Wolokolie, Senior Associate Justice of the Honourable Supreme Court of Liberia where his primary duties were to conduct comprehensive legal research and assist in the drafting and preparation of Opinions and Judgments of the Honourable Supreme Court of Liberia.
Also, he worked as an associate of the erstwhile Brumskine & Associates, a renowned corporate law firm in Monrovia, Liberia.
Meanwhile, Cllr. Juah works as a public defender or criminal defense attorney assigned in Monrovia, Montserrado County, Republic of Liberia providing general legal services to indigent criminal defendants.
In 2019, Cllr. Juah was appointed member of the Legal Aid Committee of the Liberian National Bar Association (LNBA) by Counsellor Tiawan S. Gongloe, former President of the Liberian National Bar Association (LNBA) where he provided pro-bono legal services to indigents through the legal aid clinics of the Liberian National Bar Association (LNBA) in Montserrado and Bong Counties in both criminal and civil cases.
Also, as a staff of the Division of Probation, Bureau of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Ministry of Justice, Cllr. Juah provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Justice in operationalizing Chapter 33 of the Criminal Procedure Law of Liberia on suspended sentence or probation after forty (40) years of dormancy of said statutory provision.
As a proactive and acclaimed criminal defense lawyer, Cllr. Juah has represented indigent criminal defendants before various criminal courts and law enforcement institutions in Liberia.
He is also a member of the African Bar Association (ABA). Besides, he served as Secretary-General of the Bong County Bar Association of the Ninth Judicial Circuit, Bong County, Liberia. Since the ascendancy of the current leadership of the Liberian National Bar Association (LNBA) headed by Counsellor Sylvester D. Rennie, Cllr. Juah has served as Secretary-General of different Steering Committees of Bar Assemblies, Law Days and National Bar Conventions respectively.
In furtherance of his commitment to serve humanity, he serves on a number of boards of charity organizations as well as civil society platforms including the Board of Trustees of Street Child Liberia, a UK-based international charity registered under the laws of Liberia that is providing sustainable future to underprivileged Liberian children and school-aged students in Liberia. He is also co-founder of the Global Initiatives for Social Change, Incorporated, a local not-for-profit organization duly incorporated under the laws of the Republic of Liberia providing access to justice to indigent clients.
Cllr. Juah is a graduate of the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law, University of Liberia, Monrovia, Liberia with a degree of Bachelors of Law (LL. B). In 2003, he also graduated from the Cuttington University College (now Cuttington University), Suacoco, Bong County, Liberia with a degree of Bachelor of Science (BSc.) in Accounting. Besides, he holds several professional and specialized certificates from various reputable institutions including the International Law Institute, Washington, DC, United States of America.
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