Madam Justice Reifer is the newest Justice of the Court of Appeal and will be part of the effort to get rid of the backlog of cases before the courts.
She took the Oath of Office before Governor General Dame Sandra Mason, Chief Justice Sir Patterson Cheltenham and her relatives, during a ceremony at Government House on Tuesday.
Justice Reifer, who assumed her duties the same day, said the issue of backlogs is on the agenda of the judges moving forward, and some proposals had been looked at to address that and other matters affecting the smooth running of the court system.
“As it relates to the criminal division, first and foremost, we have increased the number of judges, which is a critical and fundamental step. We have looked at organising the work of the judiciary differently – we will now be functioning in divisions…. That won’t be my position in the Court of Appeal, but generally and across the board, that is what we are doing,” she said.
“The Chief Justice has indicated that he will be setting up committees to address the critical areas so that we can determine what we need to do in order to resolve those difficult areas.”
The Justice of Appeal also told the media that the courts were still functioning as required amid the COVID-19 environment, although there has been a change in pace.
“We’ve had a slowdown because of COVID-19. We’ve tried to function as best as we can…. All of us have been doing Zoom hearings, either from our courtrooms or from at home. I expect we will be doing much of the same until we are able to resume normal sittings,” she said.
Meantime, Justice Reifer, a legal professional for about 38 years, said she was honoured to reach this stage in her professional life.
“It has been a career of hard work and I am looking forward or anticipating more hard work, and I am no stranger to hard work,” she said.
The judge reflected on lessons from her childhood, recalling her mother emphasising the importance of education and working diligently at whatever she intended to do in life.
Noting that her father always said “the better part of scholarship is hard work”, Justice Reifer added that that has been her mantra and her approach to everything in life. (SB)
