FCO gives nod to four new Cayman silks
(CNS): Four local attorneys have been appointed as Queen’s Counsel following recommendations from the local judiciary that were approved by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The UK’s secretary of state for foreign affairs, William Hague, and Governor Duncan Taylor confirmed Colin McKie, a partner at Maples and Calder; Ian Paget-Brown, a senior attorney and chairman of the Law Reform Commission; Eileen Nervik, a senior attorney from Nervick & Company; and Deputy Director of the public prosecution’s office, Trevor Ward (left). These are the first appointments of new QCs in the Cayman Islands since 2010, officials said Wednesday.
In each of the Overseas Territories, the rank of Queen's Counsel may be granted to a very limited number of senior legal practitioners. The formal admissions to the Inner Bar will take place in open court before Chief Justice Anthonie Smellei and judges of the Grand Court on a date to be announced.
The four attorneys will now be able to add QC to their moniker and, if they choose, wear black silk gowns in court, hence the informal term of ‘taking silk’. Appointments are made on the basis of merit and not necessarily on experience but most QC’s have at least fifteen years experience at the bar.
Category: Local News
This is getting as bad as the appointment of JPs! Or the doling out of OBEs & MBEs.
At one time these titles meant something. NOW IT'S LAUGHABLE!!
When was Paget Brown last in Court?
Where is Steve McField's name?
He certainly achieve the standards of the others on the list. What a joke.
He is more deserving than some of these. He wins many of his cases.
Good point. He is more deserving than some of these.
Tough question 21.53. I tried to call someone in CS to find out. CS was closed.
After today's decision in the Tara Riverscase – I think your question should be subtly answered?
Oh wow!
The only one in this lot that I consider worthy of my congratulations is Mr. Ian Paget-Brown. My sincere congratulations Sir. I pray that you will continue to speak up on issues that affect these Islands as you have done in the past. You are deserving of this honour. Others have spoken of the remaining appointees and I will refrain for adding any further comment.
I am sure he is grateful for your congratulations. And the wisdom you bring in judging the others.
Only in Cayman do we celebrate and recognise incompetence. although any man who get into a confrontation with the Catron and survives should be recognised .saying that Congrats Ian this is well over due my friend. well over due.
All these negative comments prove one thing… Haters gonna hate.
A few unimpressive picks andone gimme to the only big law firm on the island without its own QC.
Ok Sandra you can stop posting now…….Geez !!! Trevor Ward is an excellent lawyer and well deserving of the designation of Queen's Counsel.
Has to be a winner and a loser in every case…if they won all the time one might suspect some kind of rigged system!
How about the majority of the times? Remember he gets to decide which cases to bring, but defence attorneys don't really get to choose which cases to defend.
Trevor Ward??? Are they now handing out QC in a happy meal??? WTF? Look how many simple cases this man has lost in court and tell me that is the credentials to look for in this title. To whomever approved this,I say, making the Queen the butt of a joke is disrespectful!!
Did you even read the article? People are always quick to pull a man down. Just AMAZING with your negativity. My word! Congratulations Trevor!
Article? Its a paragraph at best.
While they were at it why didn't they submit a nomination for Steve "The Sacred Vessel of Good Ol' Caymanian Common Sense" McField while they were at it?
What a joke!!!
Where do I apply? I can read and write and generally understand most things. Perhaps I am overqualified?
CONGRATULATIONS to all – what an honour. Special wishes to Ian Paget Brown who I have known all my life. So very happy to see you get this award/appointment for hard work and dedication to your profession.
…from overseas. Seriously, how many Caymanian lawyers has he trained over the years, whether from his Virginia retreat or here?
Paget Brown practices overseas doesn't he?
This is one of the last remaining bastions of judicial patronage. Utterly opaque, utterly personal.
The Chief Justice shouldn't complain about others seeking to bring the administration of justice into disrepute. These appointments by him do the job perfectly adequately.
@ Anon Wed, 08/07/ – 15:04:
You must be one of those disgruntled big firm partners that Ian put in their place at the Grand Court opening on the16th of January of this year with his damning indictment of all that you have done to promote yourselves at this country's expense.
Judicial patronage?? You must be insane, or insanely dishonest. The man did nothing of the sort. He simply presented the facts that everyone knows but are afraid to talk about, less their own skeletons come flying out of their closets. That unforgettable speech at the opening of the Grand Court, with all of you charlatans in attendance, in and of itself, is an indication of the measure of the man as an advocate and an officer of the Court. The fact that he was willing to fearlessly stand up and condemn wrong in the face of such resistance and thereby subject himself to such disparaging propaganda as you are spouting here, commends itself.
You should wish that one day you could be a man of such calibre and character, rather than a whining wannabe self importantant wretch, one of many that would never have made it so good as you have made it for yourself here, but nonetheless have the temerity to complain.
People like you are a blight on this jurisdiction, quite the opposite of Mr. Pagent-Brown. Yet you have the nerve to speak of bringing the administration of justice into disrepute? Why don't you shut the hell up and go and count your millions and see if that can help to assuage your deflating ego?
Or maybe, in typical fashion, you can call in all of your little drones on the CBA and direct them to give this a thumbs down, if that makes you feel bigger.
In my humble opinion, there is no more deserving member of the Cayman Bar to be bestowed with such esteemed status than Ian Pagent-Brown. Many less deserving ones have made it before him, but that should not detract from his appointment as Queens Counsel. Congrats, Ian!
It might strengthen your case if you got his name right, bobo.
dont be silly…..Chief Justice does not decide on these honours.
Yes he does, in consultation with the judges. Ask him.
Congrats Trevor!
-Kim
Well done Trevor!
Can anyone list all of the QCs we now have in Cayman?
Are they scraping the barrel now?
Trevor Ward?? What's his success rate with winning cases?
So many out-of-the-way things had happened lately, that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really impossible.
Congrats Aunt Eileen!! Jewel
Dear Justice Smellie
I thought becoming a QC was an honor and something difficult to achieve not a reward for friendships.
This is a mockery and an insult to the profession.
A CBA member
The only issue you house slaves have with Trevor is that he is not white.
The persons appointed to decide if he merits being a QC have spoken.
Um….no actually. "We" do not have an issue with him. The fact that this man has the success rate of a dead sloth, makes it very interesting that he would actually become a QC.
But, here in lala land, it only takes knowing the right person and not actually knowing.
hmmm You use the word "slaves" in your comment, but I bet you had a much "N"icer word in mind when you wrote it, didn't you…
Please educate us. What is a house slave
Perhaps fair points, but then it says "A CBA Member". The CBA is a pathetic club itself which has done great harm to the provision of legal services in the Cayman Islands and beyond because some members simply want to make money because of their passport rather than any talent.
Some members don't want to be discriminated against and marginalised because they are Caymanian. But you are right. The CBA has become pathetic now that both societies are run by partners in the same firm and it marches in lock step with Law Society.
Give one to Sandra Catron instead of Trevor Ward she makes the DPP office look like amateur hour on a monthly basis and actually wins her cases.
Thats why that DPP office was replaced with an outside lawfirm to represent the Govt., they can't even stand up to one lil Caymanian? Hilarious.
Wow. What are the qualifications? A faint pulse?
Trevor Ward – Isn't he the one who lost the dog theft case against Sandra Catron?! LOL
Quo canis?