NEWLY admitted attorneys have been urged to place integrity above ambition and financial gain, with High Court judge Justice Frank Seepersad warning that the legal profession’s credibility depends on practitioners who remain faithful to principle.Addressing the group of 60 attorneys admitted to practise during a ceremony at the Convo­cation Hall, Hall of Justice, Port of Spain, yesterday, Justice Seepersad reminded them that admission to the Bar represented far more than an academic achievement.“Today’s ceremony marks your admission into one of the institutions upon which constitutional order, democra­tic stability, and public confidence ultimately depend,” he stressed.He described the legal profession as one of the constitutional pillars safeguarding the rule of law, stressing that attorneys play a critical role in protecting rights, resolving disputes, and preserving confidence in the justice system.“Your admission is, therefore, not simply the culmination of academic achievement. It is the assumption of an enduring public responsibility and a solemn obligation to uphold the principles upon which the administration of justice depends,” the judge said.He cautioned the attor­neys that while the law is intended to be applied impartially, its consequen­ces are often deeply personal.“From this moment forward, each of you must appreciate that while the law must remain neutral in its applica­tion, it will seldom be neutral in its effect,” he said.“The work that you will undertake as attorneys-at-law will shape outcomes, resolve disputes, vindicate rights, pro­­tect liberties, and inva­riably affect the trajectory of lives, families, busines­ses and communities.”Justice Seepersad said integrity was the pro­fession’s foundation and not merely an ideal.“Those who seek your assistance will often do so during periods of vulnerability, uncertainty, and distress. In such moments, honesty is not optional,” he said.He urged them to provide legal advice based on law and principle rather than “convenience, popularity, or financial incentive”, adding that their reputations would ultimately be shaped by their everyday decisions, including the representations they make to the courts, the fees they charge and the way they treat clients.The judge also warned that professional duty would sometimes conflict with personal ambition.“In those moments... you must resist the temptation to compromise principle for expedien­cy,” he said, adding that the administration of justice depends upon law­yers capable of exer­cising fairness, indepen­dence and sound judgment, even when doing so requires personal sacrifice.He reminded the attorneys that the practice of law should never be viewed solely as a means of achieving wealth or status.“The privilege of belonging to this profes­sion must therefore always be accompanied by the recognition that the practice of law is fundamentally a vocation of service. Its prima­ry purpose cannot be reduced to personal advancement, financial ac­cumulation, or social status,” he said.He noted the attorneys were entering the profession at a time when many people, both locally and internationally, continued to look to the justice system for reassurance that fairness, due process and the rule of law would be preserved.“A civilised society is sustained not merely by economic development or political authority but by public confidence that institutions will ope­rate fairly, objectively, and in accordance with law,” Seepersad said.He added that many citizens now looked to the courts not only to resolve disputes but also for “stability, reassur­ance, and principled leade­rship capable of preserving national cohesion.”The judge urged them to ensure that every client, regardless of status or circumstance, receives fair rep­resentation within the boundaries of the law, saying public confi­dence in democra­tic insti­tutions depends upon legal professionals discharging their duties with “integrity, competence, discipline, and independence”.“If these principles are upheld consistently and courageously, the administration of justice will continue to stand as an enduring safeguard of constitutional democracy and a source of reassurance to the citizens whom it exists to serve,” he said.