A former politician and Vice-President of the African nation of Sierra Leone was one of three new judges appointed to the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal last week by Governor Stuart Jack.
The new appointments come after Mr. Jack forced two other Court of Appeal judges into retirement in the past 12 months. The appointments were announced just one week prior to the court’s scheduled resumption today (Monday).
Mr. Jack named Dr. Abdulai Conteh, a former Sierra Leone politician and Chief Justice of Belize, as one of the new judges. Sir John Chadwick, a former Lord Justice of Appeal in England and Wales will become the new president of the court, while Geoffrey Vos QC, a leading member of the English Bar and a Courts of Appeal judge in Jersey and Guernsey, will also join the bench.
The new judges are replacing Justices Edward Zacca and Martin Taylor, who Mr. Jack retired in the past 12 months when they reached the age of 75. Both judges’ have indicated they did not want to go but had no choice when Mr. Jack introduced a retirement age of 75 for Court of Appeal judges.
Their forced retirements reduced the court to two members – Justices Ian Forte and Elliott Mottley – one member short of the three justices required to constitute the Court of Appeal. The appointments mean the court now has a compliment of five judges.
In a release announcing the move, Mr. Jack thanked the outgoing judges and sought to highlight the wealth of commercial experience the three new ones bring with them to the Cayman Islands bench.
‘The Governor wishes to express his gratitude for the commitment and hard work of the Rt. Hon. Edward Zacca and of the Hon. Justice Martin Taylor as President and Member of the Court of Appeal respectively,’ a statement from the Governor’s office said.
‘The new appointees bring a wealth of commercial experience that will prove invaluable to the Cayman Islands.’
Dr. Conteh served as Vice President, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Finance and Attorney General in his native Sierra Leone before becoming the Chief Justice of the Caribbean nation of Belize in 2000.
Dr. Conteh was thrust into the international spotlight earlier this year when he made an ultimately unsuccessful bid to become Chairman of the African Union Commission.
Mr. Chadwick served as a Judge of the Courts of Appeal of Jersey and Guernsey from 1986 to 1992 and was appointed a judge of the High Court of England and Wales (Chancery Division) in 1991. He is currently a Lieutenant Bailiff of Guernsey and a judge of the Court of the Dubai International Financial Centre.
While in legal practice, he had a heavy litigation practice which included banking, insurance, insolvency and commercial fraud, a biography posted on the website for the London Barrister’s Chambers, One Essex Court, states.
Mr. Vos sits as a Deputy High Court Judge in England and Wales and was chairman of the Bar Council in 2007, in addition to his role with the Courts of Appeal of Jersey and Guernsey.
Justice Vos is expected to join Justices Forte and Mottley at the bench at today’s opening of the court’s November to December session.
Mr. Chadwick and Mr. Conteh are not expected to participate in this session of the court, but will be sworn in on 11 December, when they will visit to familiarise themselves with the Cayman Islands. Justice Forte will serve as acting president of the court in the interim.
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