Photo by: Duane Daws
The Competition Tribunal on Tursday dismissed an application by Advocate Simba Chitando for relief against what he called racist and anticompetitive briefing patterns by fellow advocates and law firms operating in the area of shipping law.
The tribunal found that Chitando had not satisfied the requirements of making out a case in competition law and, therefore, dismissed his application, but recommended that he pursue his grieviances in the Equality Court.
In addition, the tribunal stated that an allegation by Chitando that no black advocate had been briefed in shipping matters was an “unhealthy” state of affairs that required remedial action.
The judgment came after a one-day hearing on August 19 in which Chitando presented a case against senior advocates Michael Fitzgerald, Russel MacWilliam and Michael Wragge and law firms Sheptone Wylie and Norton Rose.
He alleged that the senior advocates had an agreement to keep the pool of junior advocates working in shipping law small by selecting white male juniors of British descent and excluding blacks from participating in this market.
He also alleged that the senior advocates were “dominant individuals” who had deliberately induced law firms practising in shipping law not to deal with black advocates.
Moreover, Chitando alleged that the law firms had a “long-standing understanding” with advocates by which they excluded him from obtaining work in the area of shipping law.
The senior advocates and the law firms denied the allegations and opposed the case in the August hearing.
The tribunal found that, in both cases, Chitando did not prove the existence of an agreement among the senior advocates nor between the advocates and the law firms and had failed to define the relevant market within which these firms operated.
“Without a definition of the market, there is no way to measure a firm’s ability to lessen or destroy competition,” the tribunal said in its judgment.
Chitando’s application to the tribunal came as an application for interim relief while the Competition Commission continued to investigate the complaint Chitando lodged with the commission against the senior advocates and the law firms.
The commission’s investigation into these allegations is still under way.