In June 1971, having been duly called to the
bar in the Old Hall of the Inner Temple, I returned to St Kitts in the West
Indies to learn what the practice of law was all about. I was born in 1946 in the poor, mainly black, rural
sugar-cane growing island of St Kitts. In
1951, when I was 5 years old, my parents emigrated from that island, and I grew up in the polyglot,
polychrome, cosmopolitan island of Trinidad.
On being
called to the bar in London, not being a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, I
could not commence my working career in Trinidad without a work permit. I knew no members of the legal profession in
Trinidad. Meanwhile, in my native island
of St Kitts there was my elderly uncle Frank Henville QC, who offered to help
me to get started. He invited me to do
my pupillage with him, and after six months I went out on my own. My shingle described me as a “Barrister and Solicitor
of the West Indies Associated States Supreme Court.”
The first five
years were more difficult than I could have anticipated. Maggie fortunately worked as a graduate
teacher in the Basseterre Junior High School, or we would have starved. In the early years, it was mainly a
Magistrate’s Court practice. One had to
do ten cases a day to survive, and I was lucky to have one or two cases. I could not have managed without the
assistance and encouragement of two persons, the senior Magistrate, Clement
Arrindell,[1] and a colleague
in the neighbouring chambers who was only slightly older than myself, Dennis
Byron.[2]
Then, in
August 1976 came an invitation from the Government of Anguilla to serve as
Magistrate of this Island of 7,000 souls.
The cable from Commissioner Le Breton read, as far as I can recall, “Understand you have Anguilla connections.
Seeking Magistrate/Registrar for Anguilla”.
My wife and I took an air taxi the 70 mile trip from St Kitts to
Anguilla. Babs Carty and her daughter Allison
drove us around the island for most of the day.
I discovered that I had more cousins in Anguilla even than in St Kitts.
Within a month
we had relocated, and now you could not prise us loose with a rock-shattering
Priestman. There followed four years on
the Magistrate’s bench, from which I learned even more about the practice of
law. For several years after my arrival
in 1976 there was no resident private practice lawyer. At first and for several years, the only
government lawyers were the Attorney-General, the late Reginald Lucie-Smith,
and myself. The duties of Magistrate included
those of Registrar of the Supreme Court, Registrar General of Births, Deaths
and Marriages, Registrar of Companies, Trade Marks, Patents, Trades Unions, Newspapers,
Secretary to the Medical Board, Marriage Officer, Coroner, and many others. The Magistrate wore seventeen hats in all.
Just a few
days before my four year contract came to an end, in December 1980, Commissioner
Godden called me in to his office to say that he was sorry, but the Chief
Minister required that he fire me as Magistrate. I had been guilty of counselling the striking
Civil Service. I had persuaded a few hot-heads
not to firebomb the lone secondary school in protest at what they perceived was
political victimisation of some of their members, following a change of
government after a general election.
So,
back out into private practice I went, with my father’s old .455 Webley
revolver tucked under my pillow for protection for the first six months. It is back in the vault now, only brought out
occasionally to fire at the odd stray dog.
The 1980s was
a good time to be a barrister and solicitor in private practice in Anguilla
with 10 years of experience under one’s belt.
The offshore financial industry had its early beginnings then. One stayed out of politics. The clients and their fees poured in. One worked 18 hours a day. The house and pool got built. The freehold of the office was acquired. A small investment portfolio was built
up. Then came the crash of October 1987,
and the recession that followed. Yes, it
affected Anguilla too. If only because
the tourist industry was badly hit. Also,
the overseas clients no longer had any tax-free dollars or pounds sterling to
hide in Anguilla.
Our practice
now is almost completey computerised.
Our accounts clerk tells me that the fees can be almost equally divided
into three areas of legal practice:
local commercial work, offshore commercial work, and litigation. The local commercial advice is given to
clients that include banks, investment companies, trust companies, hotels,
restaurants, building contractors, and land developers. The offshore commercial work seems to come
mainly from the USA and Canada.
There is a
sprinkling of clients from Switzerland, the UK, France, South America, Hong
Kong and Japan. There is the husband
buying a condo in Miami for the girlfriend, and the exporter doing a little
re-invoicing. There are also the classic
asset protection trusts. And there are
captive insurance companies to make life really interesting.
The Judge
visits once in a while, allowing an opportunity for a litigation practice. Anguilla is considered too small to have its
own Judge. So, the Judge who normally
resides in the nearby sister Dependent Territory of Montserrat visits two or
three times a year. And, of course, when
he is here everything else is expected to come to a dead stop. The barristers/solicitors hang around the old
Court House hoping their case will come up on time, or at least, next best to
that, within a day or two.
Now, in June
1996, one’s 25th anniversary at the bar is around the corner. Young practitioners call one up and ask for
advice. The schools and the churches and
the young people’s associations invite one to address them on social, political
and economic issues. One has done one’s community
service and been a member of all the social and cultural groups. There are now two associates in the Chambers
to help now. One is still working 18
hours a day. The difference is that now,
in the hard days of the 1990s, one’s invoices aren’t always paid. One doesn’t get to visit London and dine in
the Old Hall at the Inner Temple very often any longer. And one is still wondering what new
development the practice of law in Anguilla will bring.
First published in Anguilla Life Magazine, in July 1996,
under the heading “Origins”.
[1] Later Sir Clement A Arrindell GCMG, CGVO, QC,
Governor General of St Kitts and Nevis.
[2] Later to become Chief Justice of the
Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court and subsequently the second President of the
Caribbean Court of Justice.
