A new body designed to focus on lawyers practising at the criminal bar has been launched.
The Cayman Islands Legal Practitioners Association has set up the Criminal Bar Defence Association, a subcommittee designed to implement and promote the highest standards.
Prathna Bodden, of Samson Law, the chairwoman of the subcommittee, said the group wanted to “ensure there is a unified opportunity to be heard on important matters, such as changes in legislation, working conditions and practices [and] legal aid, and to ensure that all who need representation obtain it to the highest possible standards”.
Chief Justice Margaret Ramsay-Hale warned earlier this year that the work of the criminal courts was hampered by the lack of barristers available to represent defendants.
She said, “The courts continue to face challenges in getting their work done because there remain so few practitioners relative to the number of cases before the courts.”
Ramsay-Hale added that it sometimes appeared there were more barristers employed as Crown counsel than there were at the criminal bar.
She said she looked forward to “any initiative that could see the numbers of persons practising on the other side being improved”.
Bodden said the new Criminal Bar Defence Association “hopes to provide training, social events – to support advocates both professionally and socially”.
“It is a tough yet rewarding profession,” she said. “We hope, by coming together, we can highlight the benefit of the work that we do and to attract and retain the top talent.”
Bodden added there was “a real drive” to give those at the criminal bar a voice and that, after the first meeting this week, the group planned to contact all Cayman Islands Legal Practitioners Association members who practise criminal law.
She said it was an “honour and a privilege” to be nominated as chairwoman of the subcommittee and work with other members, such as Ben Tonner KC, the only criminal counsel in Cayman who has taken silk and is an acting Grand Court judge.
The subcommittee also includes Amelia Fosuhene, who has appeared in some of the most high-profile and serious cases in Cayman; Candia James-Malcolm, a veteran deputy director of public prosecutions-turned-defence counsel; and Kathleen Ryan, a sole practitioner who would “undoubtedly ensure that the smaller firms are represented”.
Bodden said that there had been an independent Criminal Bar Association in the past, but that it had been inactive for some time.
She added, “This is the first committee which has been formed as a subcommittee of CILPA.”
Bodden thanked Richard Barton, the re-elected CILPA president, who had “encouraged, supported and effectively enabled the formation of this much-needed Criminal Defence Bar Association”.
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