Legal appoints a new solicitor general
(CNS): Government officials said that Jacqueline Wilson has now taken up the post of the Cayman Islands’ new Solicitor General in the wake of the acting government solicitor’s departure to the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. The Portfolio of Legal Affairs said Wilson who is a native of Trinidad and Tobago, was selected following an open recruitment process to fill the vacancy created when Cheryll Richards QC, the former Solicitor General was appointed as Cayman’s first Director of Public Prosecutions, an office independent of Legal Affairs.
Wilson is no stranger to the Cayman Islands having previously worked as an attorney in the Attorney General’s chambers for 5 years, leaving in 2002 to work with British Virgin Islands government where she has been for the past ten years.
Richards, who is now has the DPP, has independent responsibility for Public Prosecutions, a role formerly carried out by the Chambers of the Attorney General prior to the 2009 Constitution. As a result Wilson will now be responsible for the day to day management of the Solicitor General’s office which on behalf of the Attorney General deals with all government civil and advisory matters. She will also be the Portfolio’s Chief Officer under the Public Service Management Law.
The Deputy Governor and the Attorney General said they were pleased to have Wilson re-join the Cayman Islands government service and said they were confident in her ability to manage the responsibilities associated with the post.
The Attorney General thanked Vicki Ellis who was acting as Solicitor General for the greater part of the period when the post became vacant. She is now a judge of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. He has also expressed his appreciation to both Douglas Schofield and Reshma Sharma for also acting for short periods prior to Wilson’s arrival.
Wilson said it was a privilege to return to Cayman and was grateful for the support from the Portfolio of Legal Affairs. “I will make every effort to fulfil the expectations and to effectively discharge the responsibilities of the post,” she added.
Category: Local News
Congratulations Ms. Wilson.
There are Caymanians who are qualified and capable of holding this job. And the fact is that like it or not, the CJ, the AG and the DPP are in fact Cayman Status holders. However, as far as those positions not being manned by born Caymanians, the problem is that no born Caymanians are interested in working in the government legal department on a long term basis. That place has traditionally had a better working revolving door for young Caymanian Lawyers than Northward Prison has for recidivists. Ask yourself this question: why is that? Perhaps it’s because most young Caymanian lawyers simply leave in search of greener pastures, and seek the glory and prestige of working for the big law firms in GT, only to have their grandiose dreams dashed when they hit the glass ceilings or are sidelined and constructively dismissed, etc, after they have served their time or their purpose and are then prevented from reaching a stage of influence within those firms. Not that I don’t think (actually I know) that there has really been no initiative to “Caymanianise” the legal department. I should know, as I have my own personal experience there.
I know this lady. She is a very competent lawyer and a very decent person and has already served this country well before. So stop the bashing in the name of so-called “patriotism”and be grateful that we can actually still fill at least some of the posts within the legal department with competent lawyers from other jurisdictions. Otherwise we might just end up with everybody else’s rejects because, whatever the reason is, there simply is no real interest among the ranks of the born Caymanian lawyers to stay in the legal department. That is what needs fixing, in my view. But that should not result in tearing down the folks that are willing to work there in the meanwhile.
From the chief justice, attorney general come down why is our judicial system full of expats? When the last time you heard of a born caymanian holding a top post in judicial system ?!?
Judicial system? Try legal system, public and private!
Define born caymanians for us please. There is no such thing. Please stop causing unrest in our society
To me, in context, it is a Caymanian who, when asked, says they are a Caymanian (their answer not changing depending on where they are in the world), who defends and works towards defending and building the Cayman Islands and their people with a sense of Patriotism. One whose clear and ( if not only) primary loyalty is to this group of Islands, which are (and are always intended to be) home.
Nobody said' CONGRATULATION, WELCOME, we are christians, love each other and treat people like how we would like to be treated'.
Let us see how many ways an expat can be blamed for this.
I can't believe the Premier wouldn't release Steve from his contract so he could apply for the job. We could use some sacred vessels flying the prosecution flag.
errrrrrrrrr …. may I have your phone number?
So I guess cayman don't have enough lawyers that we could have selected one of the. This place and its political parties are jokes. Caymanians cannot even get jobs in their own government, but yet want us to vote for them.
So let me get this straight. We are BROKE, but yet we are still hireing people!!!!!!!
I'm sure she is qualified, and weel seasoned for the post, however the same must and can be said about someone already within the Legal Dept. Wouldn't it have been better to hire from within, resructure the post's around the post left vacant by whomever got this post (spliting the old duties up), not hireing someone new.
But hey, this is Government, we need to keep the rest of the world employed I guess.
I guess Caymanians aren't good enough for top posts in government either, unless required by the constitution
"As a result Wilson will now be responsible for the day to day management of the Solicitor General’s office which on behalf of the Attorney General deals with all government civil and advisory matters. She will also be the Portfolio’s Chief Officer under the Public Service Management Law."
Just another high-powered lawyer making a high-powered salary at our expense. Can't believe this. We do not need this $150,000+ a year burden on our strained resources.
Can anyone answer this question, "WHY DOES GOVERNMENT KEEP ON GROWING?"
Who pays for it? Sorry, I'll go offline and get back to work…..so I can pay for you.
It is a really low salary for a thankless job that is not by any stretch high powered.