Turks and Caicos justice fills vacancy left by removal of Priva Levers
Grand Court will have a new judge on 12 September, when Justice Richard Williams of the Turks and Caicos Supreme Court is scheduled to take up a post in Cayman.
Chief Justice Anthony Smellie confirmed that the new judge was appointed to fill the vacancy left by the removal of Justice Priya Levers in August 2010. He will deal with the general run of court cases, including family, criminal and civil cases.
Justice Williams made regional headlines in October when he ruled in the matter of the Turks and Caicos Islands Financial Services Commission and TCI Bank.
Governor Duncan Taylor announced the appointment last Thursday. A press release from the Governor’s Office said this was the first time that the appointment of a judge to the Grand Court has been made by the Governor following advice from the Judicial and Legal Services Commission, established in the new Constitution introduced in November 2009.
The commission recently carried out an open recruitment process, advertising the post locally and overseas (Caymanian Compass, 12 April). Following a short-listing process, six people were interviewed by a panel comprised of four commission members and the Chief Justice. The panel was unanimous in its view that Justice Williams’ qualifications, experience and skills made him the strongest candidate. He was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1988 and spent most of his early legal career practising as a barrister specialising in all areas of family law. Before taking up his first judicial post, he was admitted and practised as a litigation attorney in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
He then served as senior magistrate and acting president of Family Court in St Vincent and the Grenadines. Returning to Turks and Caicos, he served as magistrate and then senior magistrate before his appointment as puisne judge in May 2008.
Since then he has sat as judge in the Island of Providenciales, the most populous of the Turks & Caicos Islands.
Justice Williams’ experience on the bench includes criminal, civil and family matters.
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