The legal fraternity in Barbados is hoping that High Court decisions that have been outstanding for several years will be expedited when Queen’s Counsel Patterson Cheltenham takes over as Chief Justice next month.
Expressing delight at Cheltenham’s appointment, President of the Barbados Bar Association Rosalind Smith Millar said her organisation is looking forward to meeting with the legal luminary who officially starts work on November 1.
She declined to divulge the initiatives she wants to discuss with the Chief Justice-designate, but indicated that the continued delay in delivering judgments is one of the major concerns she hopes he can resolve sooner rather than later.
“I think it would be a bit premature to get into that [initiatives] right now, out of respect for him and what his agenda may be. I would like to meet with him first…. But, of course, the Bar does have concerns about the outstanding decisions of the court, some of them going back many years, which is something we took up with the former Chief Justice and were unable to get resolved,” she told Barbados TODAY, as she promised the association would tackle that concern again.
“We also have to look at what resources are put at his disposal to deal with some of the issues within the court system.”
Smith Millar also left no doubt as to how the legal fraternity felt about Cheltenham as the court system’s top judicial officer.
“We are happy with that since he has a lot of good skill sets to bring to the job. He is well respected; his integrity is unchallenged. I know he has great plans for the administration of justice and the Bar is certainly looking forward to engaging with him on a variety of topics that affect the operation of the courts…the Registry and Magistrates’ Court,” she said.
The association head is also of the view that the new Chief Justice, who spent over 40 years practising in the law courts, would bring the “necessary energy and perspective” to the office.
Speaking about his appointment, Cheltenham said: “I look forward to bringing my usual professional energy to the task at hand.”
He is succeeding Sir Marston Gibson, who signalled his intention in July this year to retire from the post he held for nine years. He started pre-retirement leave on September 1.
In late August, the Government began advertising the vacancies of Chief Justice and Justice of Appeal. Applicants were shortlisted and interviewed by the Judicial Appointments Committee, which then made its recommendations to the Prime Minister who consulted with the Leader of the Opposition before making a final decision.
This is the first time this method was used to select a Chief Justice, but it was employed to facilitate other recent judicial appointments.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
