Forensic Science International: Mind and Law 4 (2023) 100119 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Forensic Science International: Mind and Law journal homepage: www.sciencedirect.com/journal/forensic-science-international-mind-and-law An exploration of litigants’ interactions with court actors in Ghanaian courts Charlotte Omane Kwakye-Nuako a, Feikoab Parimah c,d,*, Makafui Jonas Davour c, Kenneth Owusu Ansah b, Abigail Adade b, Prince Adih c,e, Audrey Nyameye Ross c a Department of Forensic Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana b Department of Psychology, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana c Basic Research, Advocacy and Initiative Networks, Kwabenya, Accra, Ghana d Department of Social Sciences, Central University, Accra, Ghana e University of Professional Studies, Accra, Ghana A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Keywords: Studies have sought to understand the experiences of litigants who use the court system. However, very few have Judicial system looked at their specific interactions with court actors in Sub-Saharan African countries. In this study, we sought Litigation to explore the interactions that litigants have with lawyers, judges, and court workers during the process of civil Corruption litigation in Ghana. The study used a qualitative phenomenological design and a criterion sampling technique to Lawyers Judges select seventeen litigants involved in civil litigation in a Ghanaian court. Using thematic analysis, we found that Plaintiff litigants had confidence in the judicial system. In terms of lawyers and court actors, the participants were Defendant ambivalent about their interactions with them. Whereas some had been supportive, others drained their re- Court officials sources and were not altogether altruistic. We discuss these findings and make recommendations for improving litigant experiences. 1. Introduction court actors. To this end, the current study, explored the experiences of people litigating in the civil litigation process in Ghana and their in- The adversarial system of justice is stressful for litigants. There are teractions with court actors. In this paper, court actors is used to refer to therefore calls to make the process more therapeutic for litigants. The judges, lawyers, and court officers such as clerks, and registrars. causes of stress arise from litigant interactions with lawyers, judges, and other court officials. Their experiences of the court process are thus 2. Theory shaped by the people they interact with and how they are treated (Lind & Tyler, 1988; Tyler & Lind, 1992). For example, the extent to which 2.1. The theory of procedural justice officials in the justice system are perceived to be sympathetic to the cause of litigants goes a long way to enhancing their experience. To this The study relies on principles of interactional and informational end, there have been calls for the inclusion of more human-centered justice. Interactional justice posits that the nature of interaction and tutelage for law students and legal practitioners (Heavin & Keet, 2020). communication people receive from those in authority, enhances their Although a lot of studies have explored the interactions between the perceptions of fairness in the process (Elbers et al., 2012). Informational police and citizens, not much has been studied about litigants’ in- justice looks at the way information is shared between court actors and teractions with court actors in sub-Saharan countries (Pryce & Wilson, persons going through the legal process (Laxminarayan, 2013). Part of 2020; Tankebe, 2019). Moreover, in most African countries, the courts the stress of victims and litigants is the lack of information about the have been associated with drudgery (Centre for Democratic Develop- process. Thus, a pleasant interaction and a good supply of information ment, 2020; Parimah et al., 2020, 2021). It is therefore important to would help to reduce their experience of secondary victimisation. In the investigate how litigants interact with court actors to identify the areas same vein, in this study, we contend that the way lawyers, court clerks of stress for litigants to ensure a good engagement between litigants and and other court actors interact with litigants and provide them with * Corresponding author. Department of Social Sciences, Central University, Accra, Ghana. E-mail address: fparimah@central.edu.gh (F. Parimah). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsiml.2023.100119 Received 23 September 2022; Received in revised form 30 May 2023; Accepted 24 August 2023 Available online 25 August 2023 2666-3538/© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by- nc-nd/4.0/). C.O. Kwakye-Nuako et al. F o r e n s i c S c i e n c e I n t e r n a t i o n a l: M i n d a n d L a w 4 (2023) 100119 required information, would enhance or otherwise deflate their expe- afford the cost associated with litigation), responsiveness, and compre- riences of the court process. hensibility (the knowledge of litigants about court processes) (Africa Union, 2019). Furthermore, litigants in Ghana find it difficult to access 2.2. Interactions with lawyers and court actors the services of lawyers (Brakopowers, 2018). Unfortunately, the Legal Aid Commission which is tasked to offer free legal services to Ghanaians Lawyers have been found to influence the court experience for their operates only in the major cities (Donkor, 2019). Besides, the challenges clients. To the extent that a lawyer can communicate effectively, exude litigants might face in getting a lawyer, as well as their experiences with confidence, and show expertise, clients have more reliance and confi- these lawyers are not known in the literature. To throw more light on dence in them (Elbers et al., 2012). When lawyers do not communicate Parimah et al. (2020, 2021), we sought to explore the experiences of humanely with their clients or show empathy, it goes to increase their people litigating as individuals as to how they interact with lawyers, stress of going to court (Aurbach, 2013a, 2013b; Heavin & Keet, 2020). judges, and other court actors in Ghana. Thus, to the extent that lawyers interact fairly and consistently with Parimah et al. (2021) found that people litigating as individuals their clients, the clients have a good experience of the court process. encountered challenges such as delay on court days, frequent adjourn- Lawyer communication is thus key to client satisfaction (Elbers et al., ment of cases, deliberate dragging of cases, opportunity cost, and 2012; Heavin & Keet, 2020; Robbennolt & Sternlight, 2013), however, financial strain. It is thus obvious that the court system has a problem. It as Gutheil et al. (2000) has suggested, several attorneys fail to alert their is however unknown how the litigants experience interactions with clients to the emotional outcomes of the process of litigation itself. They persons who act within this system. Consequently, we argue that people often fail to do so for fear that the emotional cost associated with the litigating as individuals who have been in contact with the judicial process of litigation could constitute a deterrence to bringing a suit. system in Ghana for a period will be in a better position to assess their Additionally, there is a lack of trust for lawyers. In some contexts, there interactions with the various actors in this system. We asked the ques- is a perception that they connive with other parties to prolong the cases tion “what are the experiences of litigants as they interact with court of their clients for financial gain (Shestowsky, 2020). actors in the process of litigation in Ghana?” To this end, the rules of conduct for lawyers in Ghana enjoin lawyers to be assiduous in prosecuting their clients’ cases, to take proper care of 3. Materials and methods money paid to them by their clients, and to constantly act in good faith (Rules 5-13 of the Legal Profession (Professional Conduct and Etiquette) 3.1. Research design Rules, 2020 L.I. 2423)[1]. The study is part of a larger study that used a mixed-method 2.3. Ghana’s legal system, and judicial effectiveness sequential explanatory design to explore the experiences of litigants in courts. This approach involves two phases: the quantitative phase, Ghana is a unitary state with a constitutional democracy with its which comes first in the sequence, followed by the qualitative phase capital city being Accra. Ghana practices an adversarial system of (Creswell et al., 2003). As suggested by Ivankova et al. (2006), in the adjudication like what pertains to other Commonwealth countries and first phase of the study, we collected and analysed the quantitative data former British colonies. In this system, the court decides based on the (using a cross-sectional survey, with 262 litigants: comprising both evidence presented by the lawyers of each opposing party. The judge in people litigating on behalf of their companies, and those litigating as this court is expected to be a neutral arbiter. This means that the court is individuals (Parimah et al., 2020). In the second phase - the qualitative neither expected to investigate nor support one party in the suit (Yoon, phase, we explored participants’ views with the aim of understanding 2010). Impliedly, for a judge to be effective in this system, he is required and buttressing the results obtained in the quantitative phase. In the to be impartial, upholding standards of integrity. quantitative phase of the study (see Parimah et al., 2020), we examined The country operates a 2-tier court structure. The courts are divided the effect of type of litigant (i.e., company representative as opposed to into the Superior courts comprising the High Court, Court of Appeal, and individual litigant) on stress, and coping. We observed a significant ef- Supreme Court, and the Lower courts (Circuit and District courts). The fect of type of litigant on stress, as well as coping. In the study, those focus of this study was on litigants pursuing cases in the High Court. This litigating as individuals experienced more stress compared to those court has various divisions including the commercial, land, financial, litigating on behalf of their companies. However, this phase only gave a labour, industrial, general jurisdiction, and human rights divisions general idea about the stress symptoms recorded among litigants. The (Judicial Service of Ghana, 2017). In Accra, most of the High Courts are qualitative phase (see Parimah et al., 2021) explained and expanded housed in the Law Court Complex edifice which is in the Central District upon the results of the quantitative phase by throwing light on the ex- of Accra (Judicial Service of Ghana, 2017). The complex was the setting periences of those litigating as individuals (who happen to record more of the study. Accra is in the southern part of Ghana close to the Gulf of stress symptoms). Thus, the study explored the stressors people liti- Guinea. As a cosmopolitan area, and the capital city of Ghana, is host to gating as individuals encounter in Ghana, and how such individuals the head offices of most of the major governmental institutions including cope in the process of litigating. However, this study (i.e., Parimah et al., the judiciary. 2021) did not cover the experiences of litigants with regards to their There are however some factors that make it challenging for judges interactions with court actors in the process of litigation. The current and other court actors in this system to function effectively and offer the study sought to throw more light on Parimah et al. (2021) by exploring required interaction that litigants desire. For judges, it has been found the interactions of people litigating as individuals with court actors in that difficulty in offering a balanced view, managing people, and large Ghana. caseloads are some factors that affect their decisions (Castellano, 2017; Choi et al., 2011; Dawuni, 2016). Such huge caseloads have been re- 3.2. Participant selection process ported in Ghanaian courts for land litigation (Crook, 2004) and other commercial, labour and industrial actions (Atuguba & Hammergren, Purposive sampling method was used to select participants for this 2020) The delays, occasioned by the caseloads and other factors, make part of the study. Participants who obtained a score of >19 (deemed to the litigation process stressful for litigants (see Parimah et al., 2020; experience high symptoms of stress) on the Impact of Event Scale (IES; Parimah et al., 2021). Horowitz et al., 1979), and were litigating as individuals were There are several challenges encountered in the effective delivery of approached for this study. This group of litigants was either involved in justice in Ghana: challenges with proximity (how close/accessible the human rights, immovable property, labour, or breach of contract cases. courts are to litigants), affordability (the extent to which litigants can Litigants within this category were contacted. Those who were available 2 C.O. Kwakye-Nuako et al. F o r e n s i c S c i e n c e I n t e r n a t i o n a l: M i n d a n d L a w 4 (2023) 100119 and willing to participate in the study were recruited accordingly. Thus, both the interviewer and the participant. Some of the litigants opted not using the criterion sampling technique, 17 litigants (plaintiffs = 13, to participate in the study due to their anxiety about their impending defendants = 4) were sampled for the study. Most of them were male cases. Apart from the first author, the rest of the authors conducted the (13), older adults (Meanage = 50.13, SDage = 12.55), and were mostly interviews. These interviewers have undergraduate and graduate involved in cases involving immovable property. Table 1 provides a training in psychology and have experience in gathering qualitative detailed description of the participants. data. Pseudonyms were used in discussing the views of the participants. 3.4. Interview guide 3.3. Data collection procedure In gathering the data, an interview guide was used. The guide eli- An Institutional Review Board of a University in Ghana gave ethical cited the demographic characteristics of participants, and the experi- approval for the study to be conducted (protocol number: ECH 048/ ences of litigants in the process of litigation, including their experiences 17–18). Institutional approval was also obtained from the Judicial Ser- with court actors such as lawyers, judges, and court workers/officers. vice of Ghana to access the litigants who use the court complex. Par- Items on the guide included: “can you kindly give me a brief background ticipants were part of a larger study that sought to investigate stress to your case?; ”; “What has been your experience throughout the court among litigants in Ghana. As stated in Parimah et al. (2021) we con- proceedings so far, when you were trying to get a lawyer to represent tacted participants at the court complex. To obtain consent and volun- you?”; “what has been your experience throughout the court pro- tary participation, the aims of the study were explained to their ceedings so far, with respect to the attitudes of the court officers, like the understanding. Thereafter, written consent was obtained from the par- clerks, the registrar and the judge?” “what are some of the challenges ticipants. Also, they were made aware of their right to opt out of the that you have encountered so far in terms of …. money involved, getting study at any time without penalty. Through pseudonyms, participants a lawyer, attitude of court officers (e.g., clerks, and registrars)?” were assured of the anonymity and confidentiality of their responses. We made provision for psychological support for litigants who might need 3.5. Data analysis it, although such services were not utilized by participants in the study. We conducted interviews at the convenience of participants either The data was analysed following Braun and Clarke’s (2006) steps for outside or within the court premises. Whereas thirteen interviews were thematic analysis. Initially, the research team familiarized with the data conducted inside the court complex, the rest (four) were conducted by reading and re-reading the transcripts. Thereafter, the data was outside the court complex. Interviews that were conducted within the coded, being guided by the aims or research questions of the study. The court complex took place very early in the morning immediately after codes were then clustered according to their similarities and names the premises was opened (to ensure that only a few individuals were assigned to them. These clusters were designated as themes. In the around in a room provided for litigants). In this large room for litigants, process, some of the themes were submerged into others and further interviews were conducted at a distance whenever there were other categorized into themes and subthemes. The themes and sub-themes litigants. Regarding interviews that were conducted outside the court derived from this process are explained with extracts from participants. premises, only the participant and interviewer were present during the interview. Only one interview session per participant was conducted, 3.5.1. Rigor with two participants dropping out due to the issue of convenience. For We ensured rigor by adhering to Lincoln and Guba’s (1985) guide for these two participants, we could not settle on a time convenient for them making a study trustworthy: credibility, confirmability, dependability, and the interviewers. Each interview was completed on the same day. and transferability. In ensuring credibility, we made sure that the right Although not the norm in phenomenological studies, interviews lasted participants who were in the right position to volunteer the right in- for an average of 22 min as has been recorded in other phenomeno- formation were sampled for the study. Since the study sought to explore logical studies (Mole et al., 2019). Interviews were audio taped and the experiences of people litigating as individuals, litigants who fell transcribed verbatim. Besides, interviewers kept field notes for the within this category were sampled for the study. Also, the right pro- purposes of reflection and avoidance of potential bias. Before the in- cedure required for conducting interviews was followed. Those who terviews, no relationship had been established between the participants conducted the interviews had a psychology background and some and the interviewers. Nevertheless, the researchers built rapport with experience in conducting interviews. The interviewers had no prior the participants make them comfortable to speak. Further, participants relationship with the participants. We sought clarity from participants did not know the interviewers, except for the aims of the study that the where possible to ensure that the data gathered were true reflections of researchers discussed with them. We made participants aware that we what participants sought to convey. To ensure confirmability and to deal had no personal gains in the research, and that we were conducting the with any form of bias from the second author, the first and third authors study to advance knowledge and practice. Due to the challenges, we also followed Braun and Clarkes’ (2006) steps in thematic analysis. The encountered in obtaining litigants for the study, it took us a year to themes generated by these authors were compared and a consensus was conduct all the interviews. For example, some of the litigants lived arrived at, regarding the themes that best represented the views of outside Accra, making it difficult to schedule a meeting convenient for participants. To further ensure dependability, we asked an independent researcher, who was not part of the study, to audit the process of anal- Table 1 ysis. Having ensured that the study is credible, it makes the trans- Demographic characteristics of participants (N = 17). ferability of the findings of the study possible, given similar Variable Frequency characteristics as the participants of the study in similar or other Sex: Female 4 contexts. Male 13 Average age = 50.13 (SD = 55) 4. Results Average length of time in months 26.7 Party: Defendant 4 Plaintiff 13 We extracted four major themes with subthemes from the data: Case: Immovable property 9 confidence in judicial system (subthemes: confidence in the court, fairness Labour 3 in the court, confidence in judges), ambivalent views on court workers, and Breach of contract 3 lawyer-client relationship (subthemes: ways of obtaining a lawyer, law- Human rights 2 yers as advisors, lawyers as financial sponsors, lawyers charging high 3 C.O. Kwakye-Nuako et al. F o r e n s i c S c i e n c e I n t e r n a t i o n a l: M i n d a n d L a w 4 (2023) 100119 legal fees, suspicion of foul play from lawyers). Table 2 provides a list of judge being corrupt exists. So that perception is out there. Yes, that was themes and sub-themes. what we carried but you see, once you begin to enjoy the process, you will see some of the things that are happening. With the current judge that we have, I do not impugn anything like that for her. (Isaac, male, plaintiff, 4.1. Confidence in judicial system labour, 40 years) Participants expressed their confidence in Ghana’s judicial system. The first hand experiences of the participants negated their earlier Their confidence was in the fairness of the court process as well as the perceptions about the judges. Their cases were still ongoing, and they fairness of the judges they encountered. held the belief that the judges would do the right thing. Negative per- ceptions often change as people encounter the persons concerned. That Confidence in the court. Some of the participants (n = 5) expressed was the experience of the participants. According to Kwame, their confidence in the court. A participant narrated how he had confidence in the courts even before his court case. According to him: … I have not been in court before and cannot say anything about judges. They judge, they know the right things to do. I only pray that they do the I had been hearing about court cases, but I had not experienced one. But I right thing for me, or justice must be done by the judge (Kwame, male, knew it was a place you go to for justice in whatever case or matter you Plaintiff, breach of contract, 55 years) had. So, I decided to also test it for myself. And to be frank [honestly], when I started the process, I realized that it was so [a place for justice]. I In Kwame’s case, although, it was the first time of coming before the was comfortable with what went on (Bright, male, plaintiff, labour, 33 court, he still believed that the judges would deliver justice. He saw it as years) their duty and was hoping that justice would prevail at the end of the day. Thus, the participants had faith in the judges and the court as a According to this plaintiff, he resorted to the court to seek for justice means of obtaining justice. knowing that he would obtain one. For another participant, he went to court to seek justice. According to him, ‘I just narrated the story to a 4.2. Ambivalent views on court workers lawyer, and he asked me what I wanted to do, and I said, I wanted to send it to court…and, that, I wanted justice’. (Kojo, male, plaintiff, fraud, and Ten (n = 10) participants had mixed reactions concerning the court immovable property, 46 years). For most of the participants, their main workers. Whereas some found them to be helpful, others believed that aim in going to court was to seek for justice. They believed that the court they were only helpful when they were given a tip. According to Yaw was the right place to seek the final resolution of their issues. “For me it [the interaction with the court workers] has been excellent. Fairness in the court. Apart from the confidence participants expressed Because at times when you get close to them and you want to get information, in the court, they also considered the court to be fair (n = 5). Some of the they help” (Yaw, male, plaintiff, human rights, 28) participants had tried other means to obtain justice but believed that Stanley reiterates it thus: they had been treated unfairly. To them, the court could give them a fair trial. According to a participant, “I tried by exhausting all the university The other staff have also been nice, not all of them, but I think by and proceedings to help me resolve that issue but two years down the line I large most of them are nice according to my experience. When you need couldn’t get any result, so I had to bring it to court” (Yaw, male, plaintiff, help and you go to them, they try and help you. One bad example cannot human rights, 28 years). This was a student who claimed he had been be used to tarnish the image of everybody. I have not had any really bad falsely accused of his involvement in a case at a tertiary educational experience with them (Stanley, male, plaintiff, breach of contract) institution. After exhausting the due disciplinary processes in the school, However, others were of the view that the court workers were helpful he thought he had not received a fair hearing, hence his decision to take only when they were given a tip. “Our problem is if you have money things the matter to court where he hoped to receive a fair hearing. In his view, will be fast. But if you do not have [money] the clerks and others can choose the courts would offer him a fairer hearing than he had obtained in the to delay you. It is all about money” (Shirley, female, plaintiff, immovable institution. property, 63). Although she does not deny the fact that they provide Confidence in judges. Participants (n = 5) expressed their confidence individuals with the services needed, she thought that they could in the judges to deliver justice despite their initial reservations. A sometimes intentionally delay litigants so they would be compelled to documentary that had exposed corruption in the judiciary and among give them (clerks) money. In general, some participants found the court court actors had rocked the country and heightened perceptions of workers (clerks) helpful whiles others found them not to be fully judicial corruption. When the participants encountered the judges, their altruistic. views changed: I had not had any encounter with the court prior to this [his current court 4.3. Lawyer-client relationship case]. You only hear people saying that they [judges] are corrupt. That was the perception all over and then the Anas expose confirmed some of This theme speaks to how litigants encountered their lawyers and them and others were exonerated. So, it means that the possibility of a how they interacted with them. Ways of obtaining a lawyer. The participants (n = 8) indicated the Table 2 various ways by which theyThey obtained a lawyer. They got their Themes and subthemes. lawyers through someone or through organizations they were affiliated Theme Subtheme Frequency with. Those who got their lawyers through their organization were those Confidence in judicial system Confidence in the court 5 who had cases involving industrial action: Fairness in the court 5 [When] the CEO of our company told us that we could take him to court, Confidence in judges 5 Ambivalent views on court 10 he thought that we could not marshal all that capital to pay for lawyers workers and other things to send him to court. But to his surprise, because of the Lawyer-client relationship Ways of obtaining a lawyer 8 backing of the union [our organization], we have been able to send him to Lawyers as advisors 3 court (Nick, male, plaintiff, labour, 40) Lawyers as financial sponsors 5 Lawyers charging high legal fees 3 Knowing the circumstances of the employees, the CEO of the agency Suspicion of foul play from 4 through whom they secured the job thought it would be exceedingly lawyers difficult for them to get a lawyer, and as such was leveraging on it. 4 C.O. Kwakye-Nuako et al. F o r e n s i c S c i e n c e I n t e r n a t i o n a l: M i n d a n d L a w 4 (2023) 100119 Moreover, he thought they could not afford ‘the capital’ required to send It has been difficult. It has been difficult. But one thing that keeps me going the matter to court. Capital is used here in a business sense to show the is how my lawyers … from the onset explained the court procedures to me. huge amount of money required to go through litigation. It is in a sense [They told me that] it does not take one day and [that] there is a saying like setting up a business. Lawyers’ costs include retainer fees, money on that “justice delayed is not justice denied.” So, I know that (Grant, male, the client’s account for filing processes, and transportation allowances plaintiff, labour, 33). for each court appearance. The CEO of this agency dared his workers simply because of the economic cost involved in getting a lawyer. The According to this participant, what sustained him in the process was remaining participants who used lawyers, obtained them through the inoculation received from his lawyer against the stress and the recommendations. length of the process of litigation. This information helped him to cope Unlike Nick who got a lawyer through their union, Sam got his better with the process. through the referral of a friend: One of my colleagues had a friend who Lawyers as financial sponsors. Participants (n = 5) indicated that “ knew the lawyer, so it was more of a referral (Sam, male, plaintiff, labour, although some lawyers charged huge fees, their lawyers did not charge ” 31). Also, other participants had to go through a 3-step approach to them any legal fees. Sometimes the lawyers even paid for the cost acquire a lawyer: a friend who referred them to an agent who led them to involved in the process of litigation. Richard claimed his lawyer had a lawyer: been exceptionally good to him: Before getting the lawyer, a colleague in the workplace told me that I must God has been so good! I am grateful for my lawyer because he did not take the case on. And I asked the person, ‘how will I do that, because as at charge me. I am from Kumasi and the transportation alone…one sitting now, I don t know anybody who is a lawyer. And he gave me a certain alone costs not less than GH¢ 700 [$35] and he fuels his car and drives it ’ ’ agent …. he has the numbers of the lawyers. So, when you call him, he will to court from Kumasi without even charging me... I remember when the meet you then he will listen to your case. If your case is valid, then he will case started, I contacted one lawyer he told me he will charge a fee of GH¢ take you to the lawyer, explain everything then hand you over to the 30,000 [$5,000] (Richard, male, plaintiff, human rights, 28) lawyer. So that is what happened before I obtained the lawyer (Grant, Some of the lawyers even went beyond the call of duty to commit male, plaintiff, labour, 33) their own finances to prosecute the cases of their clients. Kumasi, the The idea of having agents who link clients up with lawyers is an second largest city in Ghana, is over 250 km from Accra. And for the interesting finding in this research. This agent seems to serve as a relay lawyer to fuel his car without asking the client to pay for it suggests a point for the acquisition of legal assistance. Litigants walk into lawyers’ level of commitment that is rare. It is common for lawyers to demand offices directly or contact them based on referrals by friends. To have an money for transportation from their clients for each court appearance, agent whose sole aim is to link clients with lawyers is interesting. The but in his case, the lawyer was generous enough not to demand both additional duty of the agent being a preliminary assessor of the facts of legal fees and fuel allowance. Other participants’ positive view of their the case makes it even more intriguing. It also suggests that the lawyers lawyers was because of their laxity with fee collection: who deal with this so-called agent are only interested in cases that they the lawyer is a good lawyer. Sometimes, he does not take anything from us deem they stand a chance of winning. when we do not have money for him. (Yakubu, male, plaintiff, Although most of the participants got their lawyers through third immovable property, 62) parties, one of them seemed to know where to go for legal counsel. One of the participants revealed that it was not difficult for him to get a lawyers charging high legal fees. Although some participants indicated lawyer since he could walk into any lawyer’s chambers to seek legal receiving financial help from their lawyers, others (n = 3) revealed that representation: their lawyers charged exorbitant fees and made demands on them. It s not difficult to get a lawyer, because so far as they have the chambers We left one lawyer because of money issues because he demanded a lot of ’ when you re ready and you want to take somebody on, you just go in and money. He made many demands, and his charges were huge. Always ’ sit down with the lawyer, pay your processing fees and then you start your when he comes you need to fuel his car and give him some money. At the case (Terry, male, plaintiff, land, 58) beginning of the trial, there were fifty of us and so we used to have the means to pay him off but currently we are not working, so paying our Social networks, direct contact and the use of agents were the main lawyer is a problem. And we do not have a choice because we want the ways by which the participants obtained lawyers for their respective right thing to be done. (Patience, female, defendant, immovable cases. property, 63) Lawyers as advisors: The participants also revealed that their re- lationships with their lawyers were diverse—Whiles some supported This participant was part of a group who were defendants in a case them with advice and money, others felt that their lawyers were involving some shops they occupied. They had been brought to court by dishonest and charged them high legal fees. Some of the participants (n previous occupants of shops which according to her were rightly theirs. = 3) thought that their lawyers possessed the requisite knowledge about Due to the high legal fees, most of the women dropped out of the case. court processes and the chances of winning a case. Their lawyers pro- According to her, seeing the right thing being done was what kept her vided the requisite advice upon consultation. According to one partici- pursuing the case. To her, she felt they were being cheated by the law- pant: I wanted justice that is why I consulted my lawyer. I wanted to hear yers, who although knew their predicament, still demanded high sums of what he will tell me, and he said that if only I am ready. (Bossman, male, money and other allowances. plaintiff, fraud, and immovable property, 46). Here, the lawyer was in Suspicion of foul play from lawyers. Other participants (n = 4) also the right position to advise him on the right course of action to take if he suspected foul play from their lawyers. They believed that some ad- needed justice. The lawyer did not impose his decision on the client after journments and delays in the court process were due to the legal stunts listening to him, and the client was ready to listen to whatever advise the of their lawyers. Ruth claimed that there were unnecessary series of lawyer had to give him. Lawyers advice clients during initial consulta- objections from their lawyers including lengthy delays in filing docu- tions after ascertaining the facts of their cases. Part of that process in- ments thus leading to the delays. This behaviour of her lawyer made her cludes giving them a general overview of how the case may proceed in suspicious: court and opening an account for the client to take care of initial ex- Sometimes too these adjournments are not the fault of the court but rather penses. During this initial consultation, some indicated that the lawyers the lawyers. I do not know whether sometimes they secretly do some stage provided them with a realistic view of the processes: performances behind the scenes. They complicate a lot of things for instance, unnecessary series of objections and long delays in filing of 5 C.O. Kwakye-Nuako et al. F o r e n s i c S c i e n c e I n t e r n a t i o n a l: M i n d a n d L a w 4 (2023) 100119 documents among other things (Ruth, female, defendant, immovable rulers and family heads are unable to enforce compliance since they do property, 63) not control the security forces and are unable to employ the legal rem- In the same vein, Patience suggested that the lawyers often delib- edies the court affords to litigants. Thus, for some litigants, using the erately decided not to honour the invitation of the court. She claimed the formal court process affords them an opportunity to ensure enforcement lawyers had their own tactics aimed at delaying the court process. Their and a remedy. This view makes the judicial system sacrosanct, ac- lawyer sometimes would not show up at the court and efforts to try to counting for why litigants took their cases to court. Moreover, merely reach him sometimes proved futile. According to her, this made her having a brush with the judicial system does not really afford one anxious: enough basis to conclude whether the judicial system is corrupt. It may also be that the participants used for the current study were at various Some of the lawyers too pretend and decide not to come to court. They stages of their cases and were yet to obtain judgment. It is unknown how have their own tactics of delaying court proceeding. In some situation they their perceptions of the court would be altered by the final judgment would not come to court at all, and you will be anxious throughout trying they receive especially where it is not in their favour. In the study, to call him just to find out from him whether he will come or not although some of the litigants were initially sceptical about the courts’ (Patience, female, plaintiff, immovable property, 63) ability to deliver justice and as such wanted to test the system, their interactions with judges and the court process, caused them to modify 5. Discussion their perceptions about the integrity of the court. In view of the challenges in the judicial system in Ghana, several This study explored how litigants interact with court actors during initiatives have been put in place to combat corruption within the the litigation process. Overall, the participants had confidence in the judicial sector. These include the introduction of the ‘paperless court’ judicial system due to their confidence in the judges and the court initiative to advance case management, effective monitoring of cases, process. With respect to the court workers and lawyers, there were diminish processing time, the Anticorruption Action Plan for the judicial ambivalent findings. Whereas some found the court workers to be sector to promote transparency, integrity, responsiveness to corruption helpful, others found them to be altruistic only when paid. For lawyers, complaints and accountability (Judicial Digest, 2018). These programs there were two extremes of thought: some participants found their as well as the e-justice system, aim at cutting out the delays in the court lawyers to be helpful whereas others found their lawyers to be expensive process and in effect altering the perceptions of litigants that delays may and dishonest. An interesting finding of the study with respect to lawyers be a sign of corruption. was that there were persons who had constituted themselves as agents to Also, we found that litigants were satisfied with the services rendered recruit clients for lawyers. by court officers or workers. This is not surprising since an earlier study We found that participants had confidence in the judicial system, of respondents from five African countries including Ghana found high hence the reason for bringing their cases before the court. This was confidence in the court system, especially for persons in the lower class manifest in their confidence in the courts, being optimistic that there (Boateng & Makin, 2016). This is contrary to an analysis of court trust was fairness in the court and the belief that the judges would deliver for thirty-three countries in Africa that presented the view that there was justice. When individuals are treated fairly in their interactions with a general distrust in the court system (Boateng & Adjorlolo, 2019). The persons in authority, they consider holders of power (in this case judges) latter finding used homicide (one of the crimes with the lowest fre- to be morally upright. Giving consent to their demands and actions even quency) as an indicator of court system trust. It also failed to consider if they seem not to agree with the authorities, therefore, becomes easier the pluralistic nature of most African societies that operate both the (Tyler & Jackson, 2014). The same legitimization of institutions due to traditional court systems and the colonial court systems simultaneously. procedural fairness has been found in studies involving property liti- We found that although some of the participants suspected that some of gants in Ghana (Crook et al., 2010). The fairness of the process and the the court officers could be engaging in some acts of corruption, most of fairness of the judge were found to be the most important factors the litigants thought the court officers were fair. Participants revealed legitimizing the adjudication institution for most of the participants. that court clerks unnecessarily delayed the processes to solicit funds. Similarly, we found that the extent to which the litigants found the For most litigants, a lack of information about the process leads to process to be thorough and the judge fair, enhanced their experience of stress and an unpleasant experience with the legal process (Goldsmith, the court process. 2008). Although this study only looked at persons engaged in This perception of the judicial system was at variance with the non-criminal cases, a similar trend was observed in our study. For some popular perception among the general Ghanaian populace that the of the participants, they obtained information from their lawyers on judicial system is corrupt (Transparency International, 2007). To what to expect while for others this was not possible. This lack of in- buttress the assertion of Transparency International (2007), a survey formation might have led some participants to perceive underhand conducted by Afrobarometer in 2019 showed that most Ghanaians dealings by the court actors. Generally, some factors that account for perceived magistrates and judges to be corrupt (Osse & Asiamah, 2020). delays in the court process have been documented in other contexts and However, the same survey went further to indicate that only a few of the in Ghana. Delays have been noted to be caused by the absence of parties sample (5%) had encountered the judicial system. What this means is from the court, absence of lawyers of parties from court, transfer of cases that where people encounter the courts for themselves, their perception to other judges, lack of compliance with court rules, changes in legal is likely to change based on the experience they receive. This coheres representation, and joinder applications (Crook, 2004b; Ubink, 2004; with the concept of interactional justice. World Bank, 2010). This calls for more lawyer-client engagement and Litigant interactions with lawyers are enhanced when they are communication to bring litigants abreast with the court processes and treated fairly and kindly by them and found to be disastrous when the time costs. lawyers do not treat them with respect. Our finding shows that some of In terms of access to lawyers, litigants obtained lawyers either the lawyers were kind to the participants whereas others found their through personal contact or mostly through a third party. This confirms lawyers to be expensive and for others not trustworthy. the evidence that litigants find it difficult to get lawyers (Brakopowers, The participants believed in the authority of the courts. In a study of 2020). Although the Legal Aid Commission was set up to provide law- litigants in immovable property cases, Crook (2004) found that most yers for people who found it difficult to access one, it appears not many persons use the courts because of their ability to enforce justice. Ghana people are aware of this scheme in Ghana. This shows that there is a has a pluralistic judicial system where most cases are settled by family knowledge gap when it comes to where to go for legal assistance, members and sometimes traditional rulers. However, the traditional especially for those who do not have money to pay for the services of a lawyer. The probable reason most of the participants got their lawyers 6 C.O. Kwakye-Nuako et al. F o r e n s i c S c i e n c e I n t e r n a t i o n a l: M i n d a n d L a w 4 (2023) 100119 through third parties was due to the ethics of the legal profession that were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or prohibit members from publicly advertising their services. In 2020, the national research committee of the University of Ghana [protocol Ghana Bar Association launched its lawyer locator online application number: ECH 048/17-18] and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its aimed at helping clients find lawyers according to their needs and area later amendments or comparable ethical standards. of interest. Nevertheless, this process has not been assessed to establish user-friendliness and use. It is, however, a good beginning in bringing Informed consent legal services closer to litigants. Further, we found divergent views regarding lawyers. Some litigants Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants encountered them as advisors, and financial sponsors whereas others included in the study. bemoaned the high legal fees and even suspected foul play. This con- flicting view of lawyers has also been found among court users in Congo. Data availability statement Some of the litigants found their lawyers to be helpful whereas others found them to be blatantly dishonest (Rubbers & Gallez, 2012). This Raw data were generated during the study at the Court Complex, view of lawyers is also in consonance with the challenges that have Accra. Derived data supporting the findings of this study are available already been documented with respect to effective justice delivery in from the corresponding author FP on request. Ghana (Africa Union, 2019). Apart from the high legal fees charged by the lawyers, there was also the assertion that lawyers sometimes connive Declaration of competing interest with their colleagues on the other side to milk litigants by prolonging cases. These impediments are acknowledged by Osse & Asiamah, 2020 The authors declare that they have no known competing financial which recorded that most Ghanaians believe the formal justice system is interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence too expensive, and thus favours the affluent. Alternatively, the suspicion the work reported in this paper. of litigants might be due to the inadequate knowledge of the court process. For instance, delays that may be because of different schedules Acknowledgement of lawyers (Guthiel et al., 2020) might be seen as connivance. Litigants ought to be educated about these dynamics in the court process. We acknowledge all participants who volunteered information for the study, and the Judges who permitted us to access their courts. Also, 5.1. Limitations and recommendation we are grateful to Mrs. Nana Ama Dankwa-Smith for her coordinating efforts. The short duration of the interviews did not afford us the opportunity to gather more depth of information from participants. This was espe- References cially due to the busy nature of litigants and the anxiety that comes with being within the court premise. Most of them were in a hurry to finish African Union. (2019). African governance report: Promoting african union values. Africa the interviews hence the short duration of the interviews. We noticed Union. Atuguba, R., & Hammergren, L. (2020). Uses and users of justice in Africa: The case of that on average interviews conducted outside the court complex took Ghana’s specialized courts (issue july). https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/ longer durations. 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