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Former Insider Attorney Philip Nicholls Exposes Barbados Court System

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Philip_NichllsIt would be disingenuous of BU not to have read Philip Nicholls’s book More Binding Than Marriage and to provide unvarnished feedback. Nicholl’s has revealed enough about the Barbados Court System, Director of Public Prosecutions Charles Leacock, former partners Allan Watson and Joyce Griffith, Disciplinary Committee, lawyers in the system and much more to be sued if true. It is a damning indictment of the system by a former insider. Also his animosity towards Vernon Smith QC, Barry Gale QC and Charles Leacock merits special mention.

The quiet from traditional media is not surprising.

BU respects the intellectual property of Nicholls, however we posted six pages to give members of the BU family who have not yet purchased some insight to three issues among several raised by Nicholls.

Pages 82 and 83 – Nicholls shares his view as a former President of the about the Disciplinary Committee. He brands it a toothless tiger.

Pages 114 and 115 – Nicholls describes Barbados Court as a ‘total mess’.

Pages 129 and 130 – He decides to leave DPP Charles Leacock to God

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591 responses to “Former Insider Attorney Philip Nicholls Exposes Barbados Court System”

  1. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Bushman…you said it all, maybe they will understand now….lol

  2. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    WW&C
    Any other higher court can only confirm he/CC is owed money, they do not collect monies.
    But you see, W&G know he is ‘soft’ and will follow the law.
    W&G need someone to explain the meaning of life to them, preferably at some secluded lake while wearing 100lb lead shoes.

  3. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @Sargeant March 6, 2016 at 7:23 PM “I only remember one black solicitor the late John Workman”

    Another unethical crook. Was representing a friend of mine (overseas Bajan) in a real estate deal, and double crossed my friend. Friend was glad enough to hear that he de’d and gone long.

    And a preacher too.

    Oh Lord.

  4. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Well said Northern…they should have to deal with some of the brutes in Brighton Beach and they will pay that money quickly enough.

  5. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    And he never served a day in jail or arrested for theft before he died, was he….Simple

  6. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @NorthernObserver March 6, 2016 at 7:38 PM “And while collecting can be about ‘ability to pay’, it is also about ‘willingness to pay’. But in either case, this is where organized crime are the experts.

    Lol Northern. Naughty, naughty.

    I am sure that there are more than a few fellows in the Vaughn region who are more than capable of collecting any debt.

  7. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @Well Well & Consequences March 6, 2016 at 8:07 PM “And he never served a day in jail or arrested for theft before he died, was he….Simple.”

    No.

    My friend’s obeah woman got to him first.

    lol!!!

    i told you he is dead, dead, dead didn’t I.

  8. de Ingrunt Word Avatar
    de Ingrunt Word

    @David you said: “For a Black lawyer to be articled at Cottle Catford back in the 90s was a big deal.”

    I recall several years ago an attorney drawing to my attention the difficulty for his peers to break into the old firms..at that time he was chatting about the young Ms Smith (subsequently Miller, I believe) also being hired into one of those firms… So yes for Nicholls to get in and then move on to partnership was a really big deal…After all that for him to go down like this was rough.

    I don’t see it as ‘his ignorance’. Rather his carelessness.

    So when you so succintly state that “Actually the story here is if a lawyer schooled in the ways of the Barbados Courts cannot get justice then what about the ordinary man? ,,, You are in effect saying that there is an awful lot more in the mortar than is even written in that book.

    Clearly the entire old guard legal fraternity and the financial industry (banks and audits firms) are arrayed to maintain an exact status quo. We know this anecdotally but your remark lays it bare.

    Incidentally why didn’t you make that post about cricket being in the book much earlier …my order is now going in!

  9. David Avatar
    David

    @Dee Word

    I don’t see it as ‘his ignorance’. Rather his carelessness.

    Ignorance about business.

  10. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    and naivety. How do you work on a file for 10+ years, never bill the client and then allow the client and files to leave prior to being paid…IOU but not sure of the amount [Kingsland].

  11. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    Here we go again…..Nicholls has never used the word black in respect of himself…..person of colour……this where the misunderstanding comes about……house niggers vs field niggers in bajan parlance…..pick sense from that.

  12. de Ingrunt Word Avatar
    de Ingrunt Word

    @Vincent re “pick sense from that: if we take your comments, David’s and @Northern’s most recent ones mix them up and sprinkle some other key comments taken from his book the brew is a toxic one.

    Excuse this line of thought, but one swig could cause one to say that the ‘house nigger’ was reeled in, bamboozled and then hung back out to dry by the plantation owners and the other ‘house niggas’ who gloated over taking down this uppity fellow. He was played like a fiddle or ridden like a donkey…pick your pejorative.

    A very, very nasty perspective…but as I said just reading all your last few comments re ‘ignorance, carelessness, naivety and all that.

    Not pretty in the least.

  13. David Avatar
    David

    Why would Nicholls mention Hinkson’s parting shot when he was made partner to the effect, ‘hope you have not made an error’.

    Interesting

  14. de Ingrunt Word Avatar
    de Ingrunt Word

    BTW David talking about Hinkson, I wanted to confirm a remark made on this thread and maybe you can help.

    There was a mention of a Hinkson at Cottle in earlier days. was that the father this Hinkson or another person completely?

  15. David Avatar
    David

    @Dee Word

    Eddie Hinkson’s father, sitting MP if we have read with comprehension.

  16. de Ingrunt Word Avatar
    de Ingrunt Word

    Ok, the father was a very decent and proper man as I recall him from eons ago. The son has his moments of wildness I suspect but also a decent lad,

  17. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Northern…the Pine Barrens in NJ is filled with Watsons and Griffiths…lol

  18. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    WW&C…..no no. U only have to do it once to establish procedure and outcome, after that they fall in line quickly. No need or intent to fill up anything….the objective is to collect money not feed the fish and bears.

  19. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @David p56
    It was Hutchinson who made the comment “I hope you are not making a mistake by becoming a partner”……not Hinckson.

  20. David Avatar
    David

    @NorthernObswrver

    You are correct, it was Mr.Hinkson who invited Nicholls and Griffith to the meeting which offered to make them partners.

    You should have noted Nicholls reserved his most scathing assessment of CJ Gibson’s tenure for the end.

    He also has some choice words for fellow attorney’s who could have turned their backs on Watson and Griffith to force their hands knowing the predicament he found himself.

  21. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    Why….You should have noted Nicholls reserved his most scathing assessment of CJ Gibson’s tenure for the end?
    See my 7.49pm entry on the latter.
    Possibly in terms of others employing them [W&G] yes. However, while not a lawyer, if the Connors come to me seeking representation, they were deserving of representation? Their house had been sold, and they had not received the funds? They do not care whether persons employed by CC stole the funds, they were rightfully owed them.
    The tactics however, by one BG leaves much to be desired.

  22. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    I don’t know Bajan law, but in Canada, with a judgement in hand, a request to garnishee an employee’s wages is within reality.

  23. David Avatar
    David

    Correction, Nicholls points to Atlanta the find Allan Watson.

  24. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Cost to build $400,000………Value $1.2 million

    Cost to build….$50,000 x 14 ………. Value / Sale price $90,000 x 14.

    @ David, the above is part of the CC debacle.

  25. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Northern. ..Hutchinson knew exactly why he asked Nicholls that question, but Nicholls being Nicholls, he never caught on and Watson, knowing this, used it to his full advantage, I bet anything it was Watson, as senior partner, after Hutchinson and the other one retired, suggested Nicholls head the firm. It was a well thought out, devious way to extract money from client’s accounts.

    It appears Nicholls is trying to get a lien on property Watson and his wife bought, with money stolen from the client’s account.

    There are dudes in NY would put somebody, anybody from the family in the Pine Barrens to ensure the message was received, or just for the fun of it….but the money would be repaid, it’s a given.

    Some attorneys, for whatever reason seemed afraid to represent Griffith, so she got the scum of the earth attorneys on the island, who have no fear of representing theft, bribery and corruption, to represent her, despite it being a futile effort..however, those attorneys who did not want to represent Griffith also seemed fearful, or just self-serving, in not supporting Nicholls….right Amused.

  26. David Avatar
    David

    An interesting angle Nicholls did not explore us the lack of a succession plan at Cottle Catford. This is another area the BA or government needs to be involved. There is a reason external auditors examine people’s risk in any company under review. Before Armstrong retired he had to had over large clients to Barry Gale.

  27. de Ingrunt Word Avatar
    de Ingrunt Word

    David, I don’t understand your comment: “This is another area the BA or government needs to be involved. There is a reason external auditors examine people’s risk in any company under review”

    What role would a government in a democracy have to play in the succession of a private company?

    The gov’t has clearly established its penalties when proper succession is not in place…just as there are penalties when a family does not have a succession plan called a ‘Will’. Those intestate death taxes and high legal cost to get property renamed to heirs etc is a big penalty yet people with some wealth/property die without Wills all the time.

    A law firm that is defrauding its clients and does not get its house in ensure smooth transition on ‘death’ of managing partners is directly comparable in that simple sense

  28. David Avatar
    David

    @Dee Word

    You need to remove your capitalist scales.

    Law Firms like Cottle manage millions of dollars and if not done well who looks out for the ordinary man? Is there not a public interest for a third party to have oversight of this kind of market risk? Was there not an Act of Parliament to do same read Disciplinary Committee? Who manages the mitigant, Are we happy leaving this contingent liability with law firms? Should they have to establish some kind of bond correlated to size of clients account? We have to intervene with drastic measures. We have to protect ordinary people.

  29. Alvin Cummins Avatar
    Alvin Cummins

    @David.
    Amen!

  30. de Ingrunt Word Avatar
    de Ingrunt Word

    LOL @David…re ‘Capitalist Scales’. I am a firm liberal conservatist (lol): power to the people with commonsense. I can’t see how large law firm are creating any contingent risk other than with high wealth earners and large corporations who are going in eyes wide open. They can shift if they are uneasy.

    I completely accept that generally regulation is required to contain the ‘contingent liability’ of which you speak. That’s the liberal in me. Government always has a role in protecting citizens from grave malfeasance.

    But if an intelligent adult takes a revolver and plays their own form of ‘russian roulette’ with it why must the government be blamed or be liable for the consequences. Are there not already well defined options in civil court to which that man’s family can turn to get recourse for his death ?

    Can’t they sue the health company whose meds he was taking — presumably they didn’t work! Or maybe he was not sick but just a high risk taker.

    If he takes that gun and points it away from him….then government surely will drop the hammer of protection

    A law firm with many clients and thus with your significant ‘contingent liability’ is absolutely different from the major banks carrying trillions in deposits.

    We essentially have to use the banking system and they can become overly high risk takers (the revolver man pointing the gun away) with our money.

    We absolutely DO NOT have to engage with large law firms in the same way…lots of lawyers with a name plate on a ‘Coleridge Street’ somewhere.

    If you consider my position capitalist then my friend you are further left than even Bernie Sanders. Not even he would want to get into the back rooms of large law firms like that. Don’t mix up the need for regulation with an indignation that greatly overreaches…

    I suspect that you are also overlooking that this entire matter of tort reform and the impact of lawyers and litigation on society has raged for years (outside Barbados really) and there are many regs already in place.

  31. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    It boggles the mind that Dee Word wants to have it both ways, you cannot deem lawfirms routinely using clients funds illegal, remember “they have a fiduciary duty to the client and the client’s funds” and the very next day challenge suggestions that these firms be monitored and regulated when handling millions of client’s money…..how does that even work..being a private entity is no excuse for bar association or government not to step in to protect the public.

    Justlook at the predicament in which they have all found themselves bevause of no enforcement or regulations governing monitoring businesses, lawfirms etc.

  32. de Ingrunt Word Avatar
    de Ingrunt Word

    @WW&C at 10:09 AM…I am amazed that litigation – civil or otherwise – is your ‘specialty’. Do you actually read and digest before you commit fingers to keys?

    I am not challenging monitoring or regulation. I am questioning, overreach and double and triple sanctions when the current sanctions are not being imposed.

    Please stop and breathe. Because I disagreed earnestly does not mean that every subsequent post must attract your wayward attention.

    There is a simple thing called rules of a democratic society premised on that discussion yesterday about a constitution and rights. This is not a communist state and thus the government has absolutely no right to come into my backyard or Cottle’s either with frivolous requests to see or to attempt to manage their accounts because they have ‘contingent liability’ of many large customers.

    That is a COMPLETELY different discussion and argument to the previous matter of going after malfeasance.

    At the continued risk of ticking you off…did you learn your litigation and logical skills at Oxford or Standpipe Uni? Mine were at Standpipe by the way so yours must have been from Oxford…being so drastically poor.

    Breath.. count to ten, said Ted Cruz to the quick to attack Donald Trump. So breathe….

  33. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Ya still full of talk….there can be no overreach in Barbados, everything is out of control, not monitored and no regulations governing anyones actions….step into reality, everything needs an urgent overhaul….idle talk will not help.

    If they continue on the same trajectory international agencies will step in…….they are way past the point of putting on a band-aid to fix a life sore…you can talk do-do until the cows trample you, it is what it is, my civil litigation specialty allows me to see this…..what is blinding you…..

  34. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    “they have to establish some kind of bond correlated to size of clients account”….not a bad idea, though I’d like to see the premiums on such an animal in Bim. Some of the lawyers may see that as “insured teefing”? Probably cheaper [appreciate the users end of paying the fees, not the lawyers] to have an escrow service operated by say the banks.

  35. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Whatever they end up doing and they have to do something, because things cannot remain as they are, the client’s money has to be taken out of the hands of those lawyers on the island, because something has to give….the AG, CJ, etc cannot be so stupid as to continue to ignore what is happening, that would be unconscionable and beyond criminal. ..let someone else hold the funds, not the lawyers, the banks would be a good bet, but the lawyers should not be allowed access at any time, let their fees be distributed to them, through the bank.

  36. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Well Well & Consequences wrote “If they continue on the same trajectory international agencies will step in”

    Give an example where an “International agency” stepped in to deal with corruption and inefficiencies in a “Legal system with crooked lawyers”.

  37. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    I bet Lawyers in Barbados do not eff around with rich people’s money.

    That is why I have no hope that anything will change.

  38. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Hant’s…I will google it, but you could too, anyway, the chief justice a couple months ago asked the US Justice Department to help him straighten out the mess created at the Supreme Court, I specifically posted that info on here…..you do get deterioration that reaches unsustainable levels re corruption where they either have to ask for outside intervention or “the US Embassy supports fingerprint of everyone entering and leaving the island,” that includes bajan citizens.

    And dont let it start affecting the other countries negatively either, or they will be even more polite when asking nicely….lol

    And that is just one example. It’s nothing new.

  39. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    You just raised a very valid point re black lawyers on the island so revere their white, indians/syrian clients, they bow and scrape and have the best of manners, take care of their money and property with Fort Knox like diligence, but when it comes to their black clients they make them “shite”….to borrow from Bushman….. they have no respect for black clients and feel they are only there to be victimized….let me highlight that it’s only the rotten, dishonest, disrespectful lawyers famous for these practices, before am accused of hating lawyers.l..lol

    Hence the reason I reserve my respect for lawyers who have earned it.

  40. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    Well Well & Consequences March 7, 2016 at 10:09 AM #
    With all due respect, why do you continue to try to discus anything with DIW.
    Dont you know that he knows everything?
    Last year he wanted to teach me Medicine and Forensics
    He wanted to challenge what I was saying about the Bible, while licking Bush Teas tail. Bush tea then came back on several occasions since to rinse out he backside

    The man is more contentious that the contentious woman that Solomon spoke of in Proverbs, when he said “it is better to live on the housetop than to live in a house with a contentious woman.”

    The man has not learned yet that you dont have to play at every ball.
    Watch now, watch

  41. de Ingrunt Word Avatar
    de Ingrunt Word

    @WW&C at 10:51 AM..bogging as I understand it is ‘full of talk’. Solid action does evolve surely but at its core it’s talk. You or me or David or Grenville. It’s still talk.

    It is absolutely hypocritical for you (or David) to speak to the issue of government intervention and dismiss clear ‘overreach’ as ‘there can be no overreach in Barbados’. A government cannot abrogate anyone’s right…whether indicted criminals or suspect crooks in the legal profession.

    If its fair for you to crush the rights of lawyers simply because they represent in your mind some disease on society then as I had reason to say to you recently you are a charlatan and thus not much better than those you condemn.

    We all understand that regulations are NOT being imposed but you seem to believe you have the ONLY inside track and appreciation of that. So fare ye well.

    We cannot talk about government ‘secretly’ moving forward on a Republican constitution and in another breath express a need to reach into the back rooms of large law firms because we fear they have ‘contingent liability’.

    If we deeply believe the comments from yesterday that learning and following the Barbados Constitution is vitally important then both those actions are worthy of condemnation.

    They are both OVERREACH and irresponsible because they are already CLEAR rules in place to inform what should be done….and the government is WRONG in both situations.

    As you suggest talk is cheap, particularly when we just want to express our particular view to the detriment of everything else.

    Always amusing here on BU!

  42. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @ Georgie Porgie,

    It is even better to leave the woman and live in another house. lol

  43. de Ingrunt Word Avatar
    de Ingrunt Word

    @Dr GP, unfortunately I have too much time on my hands right now so yes I will play at your ball. In that regard I channel Trump..respond to allegations and misrepresentations.

    You had the time to sit and quietly compose your words yet you refused to be clear and truthful. I never attempted to “… teach [you] Medicine and Forensics”. I disagreed with you STRONGLY on your remarks vis-a-vis those of another doctor whom I had quoted.

    You challenged his interpretations of the case. I challenged your challenge. In sum I agreed with what he was saying and not you. You took extreme umbrage to that.

    Here its about the facts not who you are!

    My disagreement with WW&C has been on the FACTS, Not personal, not really contentious either. Just a healthy difference of opinion on the interpretation of facts. Same with you. Not in the least on the fundamentals of the science.

    Are you saying that you can disagree with the other doctor’s view but because I am NOT a doctor I can’t agree with him and disagree with you.

    Oh, and on the Bible thing, respectfully you have a wide gap between fact and fiction. I recall once asking you to clarify some matter you wrote about and then on another occasion making some very generalized remarks about the basic intent of God’s Word to give an opinion re one of the ‘contentious’ debates in which you and others were waging. In the main I do NOT enter those debates.

    Always a pleasure, Dr. GP!

    Channelling Trump again, I dare to say : “the truth will set you free”.

    Enjoy the cricket upcoming.

  44. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    Hants March 7, 2016 at 11:32 AM #
    @ Georgie Porgie,

    It is even better to leave the woman and live in another house. lol

    YA GOT DAT RIGHT HANTSIE!

  45. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    GP…I am trying to make a man out of Dee Word…he throws tantrums like a child when he cant articulate, it makes the blog look bad…lol

  46. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    de Ingrunt Word March 7, 2016 at 11:59 AM #

    Chuckle…..when are you going to learn to ignore WC and GP,one is too full of it as per initials and the other is the original know it all even worse than BT,who can be brought back to earth at times from dining with the BBE.

    You better than all have looked at the overal picture and made your interjections accordingly to which I concur.

  47. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Vincent…did you read the book….lol

  48. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Vincent. …I will take that as a no and relegate you to the list of “experts” led by Dee Word and AC…lol

  49. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ DIW
    Bushie has to say that you certainly take your licks like a man…..

    Shiite man … for a moment there the bushman thought that WW&C was going to kill yuh…. Even David(BU) uncharacteristically put some lashes in yuh tail….
    …and when GP stepped in …Bushie was just about to call on Sargeant for the ‘last post’….

    Anyway, you have come through with flying colours …and lived to fight another blog…

    Perhaps you may wish to retreat for a while and get yourself a massage with some healing balm ….or better yet a good bush bath…. before the next round of lashes…. 🙂
    ha ha ha
    Oh shiirt!!!

  50. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    Bush Tea March 7, 2016 at 4:19 PM #

    Skippah…..like yuh blind…….wuh licks…….ah ain see none

    The lad is on point and expertly beat the lollipop bowling all about the place.

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