From Turks & Caicos Sun

His Excellency the Governor Peter Beckingham has accepted the recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission to appoint Justice Margaret Ramsay-Hale as the next Chief Justice of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Ramsay-Hale was previously appointed as Judge to the Turks and Caicos Islands Supreme Court in November 2011. She was appointed to the Bench in Jamaica in 1995, and was first admitted to practice as an attorney-at-law in Jamaica in 1991.

The Commission has accepted the current Chief Justice Edwin Goldsbrough’s offer to stay on in Turks and Caicos Islands for a few months while a successor to Ramsay-Hale is found.

Commenting on the appointment the Governor said: “I have offered this position to Justice Ramsay-Hale this week, and I am very pleased that she has accepted it. I am certain that she will bring a great deal of energy as well as professional wisdom and experience to this very important job in the Turks and Caicos Islands. I would also like to pay tribute to the work of current Chief Justice Goldsborough. He has over-seen the judicial process at a difficult and demanding time for the country, and Turks and Caicos has benefitted greatly from his contribution.”

Justice Ramsay-Hale will assume her new position later this year.

The Chairman of the Judicial Service Commission is Justice Lensley Wolfe. Its other members are Sir David Simmons and Sir Brian Alleyne.

A former Chief Magistrate of the Cayman Islands, the Jamaica-born Ramsay-Hale holds a degree in economics from the London School of Economics in addition to her law degree from the University of the West Indies.

Prior to her arrival in the Turks and Caicos Islands she was appointed a Judge of the Family Court in St James, Jamaica, eventually moving to the Criminal Courts as a Resident Magistrate for the parish.

She then moved to Cayman Islands to serve as a Magistrate of the Summary Court and she sat as an Acting Judge of the Grand Court for several months.

Ramsay-Hale is the daughter of the late legendary Jamaican attorney Ian Ramsay, QC, who is widely regarded as one of the best lawyers in the history of the Caribbean and who was the first Jamaican lawyer to earn the distinction of Queen’s Counsel.

For more on this story go to: http://suntci.com/margaret-ramsayhale-appointed-first-female-chief-justice-for-the-turks-and-p1290-108.htm