Tag Archives: Barbados Bar Assocaition

Johnny Cheltenham Files Injunction AGAINST Disciplinary Committee

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The blogmaster takes a note that Sir Richard Cheltenham continues to perform in the role of Chairman of the Parliamentary Reform Commission (PRC). The blogmaster has no issue with the quote attributed to him in yesterday’s media – “We have inherited a bicameral system; a House of Assembly and the Senate, but now we have to ask ourselves whether we should continue that system or whether we should have one chamber; a unicameral [system]…We’ve always used the first-past-the-post system that gets most votes at the polls to determine membership but there are questions about whether a mixture of first past the post and proportional representation. . . all of those questions will be on the agenda and have to be carefully considered”. It is important work and hopefully the PRC will deliver on its mandate.

What the blogmaster has a problem with is the fact Sir Richard Cheltemham has a matter pending with the Disciplinary Committee of the BAR association. Several blogs have been published on Barbados Underground (BU) through the years directing the public to matters requiring answers from Cheltemham and local authorities without success. BU also questions those who agree to sit on a committee with Cheltenham with serious accusations outstanding waiting to be ruled on by the Disciplinary Committee of the BAR. Further, BU questions why a Mottley government advocating a political agenda of good governance and integrity continue to appoint persons who are being investigated for possible wrongdoings.#peterodle

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A Conflicted Dale Marshall

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In recent days Attorney General Dale Marshall has been in the news relating to several matters. Two items piqued the blogmaster’s interest.

In summary he said he had been following the issue concerning the wall at Joe’s River in St. Joseph, the constituency he represents. And that he was forced to decline public comment on the matter because future developments may involve aspects of his ministry.

See relevant extract of Attorney General Marshall commenting on the issue.

Attorney General reacts to St. Joseph impasse
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2016 Financial Statement of the Barbados Bar Association – A Matter of Public Interest

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Liesel Weekes

Liesel Weekes, President of the BA

BU is of the view the 2016 Financial Statement of the Barbados Bar Association (BA) is of public interest for two key reasons.  There is sufficient cash generated from membership fees to fund  the recruitment of a senior clerk to assist with trying to improve service delivery to the public. Then there is the matter of the stagnant Compensation Fund BU has written about several times. It appears that the fund is used only to feed the coffers of the Nation newspaper yet clients who are abused by dishonest lawyers continue to NOT have access to money collecting in the Fund.

The Jeff Cumberbatch Column – An Unreasonable Restraint?

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Jeff Cumberbatch - New Chairman of the FTC

Jeff Cumberbatch – New Chairman of the FTC

A combination of factors informed the relative brevity of today’s column. My university duties, as is usually the case at this time of the year, precluded any undertaking […] Continue reading →

Tales from the Courts – No Excuses Says Former Judge XX

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Justice delayed is justice denied [William Penn]

For several years BU has been ridiculed by many for making the observation Barbados law courts are stymied by a backlog of cases and unable to dispense justice in a timely manner.  BU is on record advocating that QCs function as deputy judges to help with building efficiency in the courts.

The Barbados Bar Association (BA) in a report carried in the local media titled Go with acting judges confirms BU’s message. The article quotes the BA wanting more judges to help reduce the backload and is calling for government to increase filing and application fees both in the Supreme Court and the Registration Department. The BA’s grievances were addressed in a letter directed to Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler. The letter also made the point ‘the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) had on several occasions reprimanded both the Court of Appeal and the High Court for the unacceptable amount of time it took for cases to be tried and judgements given’. Does any of this looks familiar?

BU states for the record we are against the BA’s recommendation to increase filing and application fees. At a time of unprecedented financial crisis in Barbados such a move is bound to reduce access to justice by the poor, tipping the scale further in favour of the well off. What manner of people are to want to implement a pricing system to hinder ordinary citizens access to justice?

Are we about selling justice now?

Tales from the Courts – Has Chief Justice Gibson Brought the JUSTICE System into DISREPUTE? XXI

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Chief Justice Marston Gibson

Chief Justice Marston Gibson

On June 19, 2004, Chief Justice Marston Gibson weighed in on the dispute that BU has been covering for some time. That of the Constitution vs the Legal Profession Act Cap 370A. BU has obtained a letter from the CJ to Mr Barry Gale QC, the president of the Bar Association  – see letter sent by the CJ to Barry Gale.

The history of the Constitution and the Legal Profession Act goes back to the very beginning of the Act and the formation of the BA. The BA’s first president, Mr Jack Dear QC (later Sir John Dear) realising that the Act was fatally flawed and would not stand up to a constitutional challenge, declined to challenge attorneys who opted not to join the BA, most notably Mr Bobby Clarke, who has never been a member of the BA and between whom and Jack Dear, there was no love lost. If anything there was a mutual and well-known animosity. Successive presidents of the BA have also declined to involve themselves in a face-to-face fight against the Constitution, until the advent of Mr Leslie Haynes.

Chief Justice Douglas refused to involve himself, as did Chief Justice Williams and BU has already published the minutes of the BA in which a consultation between the Registrar, Simmons CJ and Simmons CJ’s then prospective son-in-law and BA president Wilfred Abrahams (now Senator Abrahams) in which the advice of Simmons CJ was to, in effect, left it lone – see Tales From The Courts &ndash XII;Barbados Bar Membership Revisited – Registrar and Sir David Simmons, Wilfred Abrahams Exposed

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Compensation Fund: Another Screw-up By the Barbados Bar Association

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Barry Gale QC, President of the BA

Barry Gale QC, President of the BA

BU has been able to access the audited financial report of the Bar Association (BA) relative to the Compensation Fund. BU notes that the fund holds in excess of $2 million. The authority for the Fund is to be found at Part VIII of the Legal Professions Act Cap. 370A of the Laws of Barbados.

Briefly, the Act states:

  1. The Fund is the property of the BA and must be paid into a separate bank account to the credit of the BA to be known as “the Attorneys-at-law Compensation Fund”.
  1. Every attorney-at-law is required, when a Practicing Certificate is issued to him, to pay to the Registrar his/her annual contribution to the Fund, without which no Practicing Certificate will be issued.
  1. “50. (1) Where it is proved to the satisfaction of the Bar Association that any person has sustained loss in consequence of dishonesty on the part of an attorney-at-law or any clerk or servant of an attorney-at-law in connection with that attorney-at-law’s practice as an attorney-at-law or in connection with any trust of which that attorney-at-law is a trustee, then, subject to the provisions of this section, the Association may, if it thinks fit, make a grant to that person out of the Fund for the purpose of relieving or mitigating that loss.”

A few points to ponder from the reading of the posted financials.

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Tales From The Courts – Exposing ‘Teefing’ and Incompetent Lawyers

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Sir Henry De B. Forde, K.A. Q.C. – Barbados’ best known counsel

In the last two instalments of Tales From The Courts, BU ventilated an aspect of land law that had the possible potential to cause problems for vendors and purchasers alike. This arose because of an Order given by Miss Kentish of the Barbados High Court. BU’s position evoked much argument from both sides of the issue.

Some well known counsel said that the Order was correct. Some, including it is reported, the a party to a sale and purchase and their counsel, held that the Order was a nullity and therefore refused to proceed with the purchase. It is not the intention of BU to go into the relative merits of this argument. We leave that to the lawyers to discuss among themselves.

What BU will do, however, is to fulfil its function, which is to serve the general Bajan public by pointing out the dilemma facing it. The fact that there are clearly two schools of legal thought within the legal fraternity on this issue of law, means that ultimately one is wrong and the other right. Therefore, it is clearly best for members of the general public, vendors and purchasers of land alike, to err on the side of caution. And it is clearly best for their counsel to be responsible enough to encourage them to do so.

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