New Executive

• Cherise Sultana – President
• Chantelle B. Stevens – Vice-President
• Larkin Magro – Secretary General
• Maria Vella – Financial Officer
• Christine Galea – Academic Officer
• Nicole Carabott – Projects Officer
• Matthea Wadge – Public Relations Officer
• Michaela Ellul – Social Policy Officer
• Ethan Pawley Neame – Introductory Officer

Moreover, the co-opted members have also been chosen as:

• Sarah Pisani – Media Coordinator
• Tyler Vella – Projects Coordinator
• Martha Aquilina – Academic Coordinator

Presidential Comment

I am honoured and humbled to have been elected as President of the Junior Chamber of Advocates (JCA) and cannot wait to see what this highly motivated and skillful team will offer.

Cherise Sultana

Goodluck to the new executive from all of us at The Third Eye!

The post Cherise Sultana to lead JCA for the term 2022\23 appeared first on The Third Eye.

The fresh faces of the new team are as follows:

• Jake Buttigieg as President
• Gabrielle Portelli as Vice-President
• Warren Farrugia as Secretary General
• Krista Spiteri Lucas as Financial Officer
• Josefa Muscat as Academic Officer
• Matthias Azzopardi as Projects Manager
• Michaela Aquilina as Public Relations Officer Emma Shaw as Social Policy Officer

The co-opted members have also been appointed:

• Cherise Sultana as Introductory Officers
• Larkin Magro as Assistant Projects Manager
• Chantelle Stevens as Assistant Academic Officer

The Third Eye got in touch with newly elected President, Jake Buttigieg, and former President, Paula Briffa, to get their comments on the new and previous term.

This term, JCA shall continue to strive toward fostering solidarity between law students as they grow into the legal profession. To that end, we must focus further on the areas of professional ethics, responsibility to the profession and the duties of lawyers in service of justice. 

I’m very thankful to have worked with such an excellent team over the previous year and to have many of them continue to serve with the organisation in this executive. We should be grateful for having been left such a solid foundation to continue building on. I wish the best to the exec members who did not continue into this year, who have served the students so faithfully, and now move on to the next step of their careers.

Jake Buttigieg, JCA President

Briffa looks back on her term and is proud of what JCA has achieved;

I am so proud of this young team full of motivated individuals that now form part of the new JCA Executive Committee 2021/22. Having been involved in JCA for a number of years, I have countless of memories and saying goodbye is never easy. However, I am absolutely certain that the organisation is in safe hands and will continue to flourish and achieve its goals.

Paula Briffa, former JCA President

The Third Eye would like to express its best wishes to the newly elected executive for their coming term!

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Zoom is not just infamous for online lecture but lately, it’s been a common ground for Annual General Meetings. One of them being JCA’s! The Junior Chamber of Advocates have just unveiled a fresh new team for the upcoming term.

Long-standing Paula Briffa will be leading the new executive as President of the organisation through the upcoming term. Supporting her will be Julia Blake who will be taking on the role of Vice-President.

Roberta Attard will now be assuming the role of Secretary General and Jake Buttigieg will be this year’s Financial Officer. The Academic Office will be headed by Rachela Saliba and Warren Farrugia was elected as Projects Manager.

Last but definitely not least, Gabrielle Portelli will taking on the role of Public Relations Officer whilst Krista Spiteri Lucas was elected as Social Policy Officer.

Eight out of the ten candidates were elected with the most votes from an election which had a turnout of 55.2% of the eligible voters.

The Third Eye got in touch with newly elected president Paula Briffa to get her thoughts looking forward to the new term:

I am truly honoured and humbled to have been elected as President of JCA. JCA has always been an organisation close to my heart ever since I joined the law course, and I have seen it grow and reach new heights.

I’m completely committed to continue on all the work that has been done ever since JCA’s inception and to push the organisation forward. I’m incredibly looking forward to work with the rest of the team!

They’re all so enthusiastic and hardworking and I’m happy to be a part of this.

The Third Eye would like to express its best wishes to the newly elected executive for their coming term!

The post Paula Briffa to lead JCA for 20/21 term appeared first on The Third Eye.

Back to the serious stuff! Junior Chamber of Advocates organised Jury Duty: A Criminal Law Seminar aimed at law students and highlighted by some key speakers such as retired Judge, Antonio Mizzi and Dr Yanika Zammit Tabona.

Judge Mizzi opened the floor by emphasising a basic yet essential point which is the unfortunate massacre of the Maltese language in court documents. He stated that one must not think in English and translate into Maltese because many concepts will be lost in translation.

Jury Duty is not as easy as Stanley makes it sound. Judge Mizzi explains that a jury is a hands-on experience which is tailored according to the case and process.

Juries are only erected in case of a homicide, attempted homicide, drug trafficking, rape & money laundering.

A jury starts with the selection of its members. Everyone over the age of 18 is eligible for jury duty unless a person has a criminal record. They are chosen through random selection in a computerised system and the person may exempt himself from jury duty.

The longest jury known to Maltese history was six months long however, juries today only last days or very few weeks. A jury is made up of 9 people and 3 reserved people just in case one of the first nine people need to be exempted. In a jury, it’s either liberation or conviction and the score cannot be less than 6 people in favour/against and 3 people in favour/against.

Members of the jury may ask as many questions as they wish. As is tradition, a Judge normally exempts the members of jury for a period of time and throughout that period, they cannot be chosen for another jury duty.

Antonio Mizzi predicts a number of reforms in the next months regarding the process which leads to the establishment of jury proceedings.

From her end, Dr Yanika Zammita Tabona gave a lawyer’s perspective of the proceedings. She also emphasised how crucial the Maltese language is in court proceedings. If the accused person does not understand the Maltese language, an interpreter is hired because jury proceedings need to be heard in Maltese.

She candidly questioned whether jury proceedings are the right way to prosecute a case. She recalled a very recent trial which she participated in. A trial in which 2 dark-skinned persons were accused of rape amongst other accusations. She explained that the jury was made up of 9 white persons and then questioned the legitimacy of such a jury in a racially tensioned country.

Antonio Mizzi built upon her argument and emphasised that a Maltese citizen in this day and age has a number of skin colours.

The Advocate General may object to one of the chosen members of the jury. It is essential that they need to be independent and impartial. For this to happen throughout the whole proceedings, members of the jury are secluded in a hotel with minimal contact with the outside world including their own families.

Zammit Tabone stated that it is only the judge who ultimately interprets the law and the members of the jury are the judges of the facts of the case.

White shirt, plain ties and dark suits for men and sober colours and no miniskirts for women. This point was emphasised by retired Judge Mizzi who stated that this was not a point of discrimination. Many a time, he explained, he saw a number of lawyers parading around court with unsuitable attire.

In conclusion, jury duty is not just about eating shrimps at the hotel buffet and a police escort to court. It’s about taking notes, deliberating facts and making a decision which may ultimately affect a person’s life.

The post JCA’s guide to Jury Duty: it’s not just for the sitcoms appeared first on The Third Eye.

When contacted by The Third Eye Micallef St John expressed his appreciation for getting re-elected and his enthuasiasm looking forward to the new term. His full comments were as follows:

I am truly honoured and privileged to not only have been elected as President of JCA, but for a second term running. JCA is a young organization currently building solid foundations for future growth, and I am incredibly humbled to have been given the go-ahead to continue on what was started last year to achieve JCA’s fullest potential.

I look forward to working with the elected team, who have already shown great enthusiasm and dedication towards this organization; at this point, I cannot possibly ask for more.

The full list of the new members are as follows:

• President: Matthew Micallef St John
• Vice-President: Roberta Spiteri
• Secretary-General: Steve Vella
• Financial Officer: Gian Peralta
• Academic Officer: Julia Blake
• Projects Manager: Erica Camilleri
• Public Relations Officer: Roberta Attard
• Social Policy Officer: Nicole Debrincat

The Third Eye would like to extend its warm congratulations to the incoming team at JCA and wish them the best of luck in their work for the forthcoming term.

The post Matt Micallef St John elected as JCA President for Another Year appeared first on The Third Eye.

The post Junior Chamber of Advocates speaks about the issue of Awarding Warrants to Convicted Law Students appeared first on The Third Eye.

The new roles are as follows:

• President – Matthew Micallef St. John
• Vice-President – Jacob Magri
• Secretary General – Paula Briffa
• Financial Officer – Steve Vella
• PRO – Cristina Zammit
• Academic Officer – Gian Peralta
• Projects Manager – Liesel Cuschieri

Rebecca Mercieca, who was part of JCA for three years, also serving as President of the Organisation, expressed her gratitude for having learned so much from this experience which, she claims, has confirmed her passion for advocacy.

The Third Eye team would like to congratulate the new Executive Committee and wish them luck for the upcoming term.

The post Matthew Micallef St. John – The New President for JCA Executive 18/19 appeared first on The Third Eye.

The Junior Chamber of Advocates’ ‘Beyond your Degree’ will provide law students with the great opportunity to get their multiple questions answered. The organisation is teaming up with a number of professionals from various legal backgrounds and law students are encouraged to attend this event to clarify any difficulties they might have against a fee of €5 for non-JCA members.

This event will take place on the 28^th of February at the KSU Common Room starting at noon. Amongst the legal professionals present at the event, there will be Roselyn Borg Knight who travelled the world in just 6 weeks and funnily enough, most students can’t even finish their assignment in 6 weeks. Joining her will be Warren Ciantar who impressively underwent a 3-month traineeship with the European Parliament in Luxembourg and is currently reading for a full-time Master of Laws in European and Comparative Law at the University of Malta amongst others.

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1454141591378400/

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