Address by Alasdair Robertson at 2017 opening of Cayman Islands Grand Court
PRESIDENT OF THE CAYMAN ISLANDS LAW SOCIETY – ADDRESS
11 January 2017
My Lord Chief Justice, Hon. Judges of the Grand Court, Hon. Chief Magistrate,
Hon. Magistrates, Mr Attorney, Madam Director, Madam Solicitor, my
colleagues at the Bar, our Special Guests, Ladies & Gentlemen.
If it may please my Lord
I have had an opportunity to read Mr. Thoppil’s speech in advance and confirm
that I agree with all that he will say. [I would also like to extend a very warm
welcome to all judicial appointments referenced earlier by the Honourable
Attorney General and also note his remarks with regards to the retirement of [named],
and I adopt them wholeheartedly. We wish them the very best for their
retirements and thank them for their service to our Islands]
I am very happy to provide this report on the activities of the Law Society.
Activities of the Law Society would normally set out all of the very good work
that members of the Law Society have undertaken in contribution in particular
to developing, reviewing and amending existing legislation for the benefit of our
community and our jurisdiction. However it is fair to say that the one topic that
has taken up a significant amount of time and quite rightly has been the Legal
Practitioners Bill and with your indulgence I would like to spend the majority of
my speech on this key piece of legislation, key not just for the profession but
for the islands as a whole.
Legal Practitioners Bill
Growth of the Profession
I think it is worthwhile taking stock of the progress of the legal profession in the
Cayman Islands in particular as an engine of growth for one of the two current
pillars of the economy, the financial services industry. Since the Legal
Practitioners Law was brought into effect in 1970, we have grown from 20
attorneys on the roll to over 500 with well over 200 of those being Caymanian;
we now have over 30 member firms as the growth has continued over the last
two decades, indeed one only have to look at the growth in the number and
complexity of the cases heard in this honourable Court with judgments here
being used around the world to know what a valuable asset the legal
profession has become to these Islands.
The challenge for us now is to ensure that we continue this growth and
therefore the opportunities for Caymanian lawyers, aspiring future lawyers and
just as important the large number of non-law support staff .Most law firms
have at least 2 support staff to every lawyer so there are at least 1,500 people
directly employed in this sector and looking at the largest four firms as an
indicator, less than 40% of those are work permit holders with the four largest
firms employing over 400 Caymanians. We should also not forget that as a key
part of our industry here, a vibrant and stable legal profession is also key to
other industries such as accountancy, fiduciary services, marketing and IT.
Why now?
It is commonly conceded by most if not all that the “status quo” is not an
option. As your Lordship knows a new modern, balanced Legal Practitioners
Law to support our profession is long overdue; to the extent there is now some
debate, due to the effluxion of time as to whether the first proposals were 13 or
15 years ago now!
The Bill which was published in September in our view is the best attempt to
bring a balanced modern law into effect, a balance between protectionism and
the need to compete globally, a balance that permits growth and secures and
enhances the opportunities for Caymanians in the future, a balance that keeps
control of the practice of law overseas within Cayman but allows Cayman to
compete on a global basis and a balance to ensure that the regulation and
discipline of attorneys is modern, proportional and allows the different
elements in our profession from the sole practitioner to the major international
law firm to not be over-burdened but at the same time gives comfort to clients
and other stakeholders that any complaints or issues can be dealt with and so
continue to enhance the Cayman Islands as a place to do business.
The Bill reflects many of the points needed for the profession to succeed in a
highly competitive global market as well as the need to promote Caymanian
advancement within the profession and reflects a lot of compromise of various
interests within the profession to reach that objective and I would like to
commend both leadership of our many member firms and the leadership of the
CBA to reach this result..
As you will have the vast majority of the profession support this with over 77%
of the CBA membership in a survey last October coming out in support and
over twenty Cayman Island law firms, representing over 85% of the members
of CILS, have come together to voice their support of the LPB for the future of
the legal industry in Cayman
The future
I have had the privileged of working in and around the Cayman Islands legal
industry since 1992 when I started as a summer intern at Maples. I have also
had the benefit of spending time in London and Hong Kong and now as global
managing partner of Maples to see the opportunities that the legal profession
in Cayman can give on a global basis. At this stage of my career and with
children of my own starting University and notwithstanding my best efforts to
persuade him otherwise, a son who wants to practise law, I am glad to say my
Lord as a litigator and not a finance lawyer! That I find my focus very firmly on
the next generation and ensuring that they have those opportunities.
The reality is that it is the larger, multi-jurisdictional law firms that are the key
reason as to why over 200 Caymanians are now working in the legal
profession. These firms offer articles and employment to Caymanians once
qualified, creating opportunities for Caymanians to be part of the legal
profession without having to go overseas.
Currently the largest 14 multi-national law firms in the Cayman Islands employ
134 of the 200 Caymanian attorneys, not to mention that over 45 of these
lawyers have had the opportunity to be seconded to the overseas offices. The
operation of overseas offices increases job opportunities in the legal profession
here, rather than taking away work from Cayman.
It is also critical to note that currently opportunities for Caymanian lawyers in
the modern legal market place are restricted by the fact that they cannot use
their admission as a Cayman Islands attorney as a basis to qualify as English
lawyers (as many other Commonwealth lawyers are able to do so), which
along with New York is the golden standard in international legal jurisdictions.
Law firms which practise English law dominate the international market with
offices in many more places than London and being able to work for those law
firms as English qualified lawyers opens up a golden opportunity for
Caymanian lawyers going forward in addition to the opportunities that this new
law will give them at home.
Other Legislation: As noted previously, while I did want to focus on the Legal
Practitioners Bill, I should briefly mention some of the other key pieces of
legislation that are being worked on by members of the Law Society over the
last year. These include
• amendments to the Trusts Law to help improve and clarify certain trust
law issues to the benefit of the jurisdiction;
• work on a substantive number of laws passed last year in relation to
improvements in our AML regime to address the financial action task
force review due shortly, the number of which are too many to mention
individually
• continued work on FACTA and the Common Reporting Standard
Regulations.
• In addition, there are hopefully two important new pieces of legislation
that will be introduced shortly, namely a Foundations Law for the private
client and charitable sectors as well as a new Limited Liability
Partnership Law which as with the introduction of the LLC product will
add an additional string to our bow that enhances our reputation as the
leading international financial centre.
Bereavements
I should also make mention of two former prominent members of the Cayman
Islands Law Society who passed away last year.
First, Ian Lambert a former partner at Maples and Calder and highly respected
Trust practitioner who was Chairman and an active participant in STEP for
many years. Secondly, Bruce Putterill a former partner of Appleby and Hunter
& Hunter before then who was well known for helping to build the Cayman
Islands as a shipping jurisdiction and who was the driving force behind the
Limited Liability Partnerships Law that that I mentioned earlier. They will both
be truly missed.
Officers of the Society. As is traditional, I would also like to take this
opportunity to thank specifically the Vice Presidents of the Law Society,
namely: Antonia Hardy, James Bagnall and Kevin Butler, and also Huw Moses
in his role as Secretary, for their valuable contribution to the Law Society.
Administration of Justice. I have had the opportunity to read Mr McKie’s
remarks and would in the interests of time simply endorse his words of thanks
to all of those individuals who have contributed to the smooth running of our
Court system over the past year.
Now it remains only for me formally to second the Honourable Attorney
General’s motion to open the Grand Court for the year 2017 on behalf of the
Cayman Islands Law Society, and also to take this opportunity to wish Your
Lordship, Judges, court staff and fellow members of the legal profession a very
happy and prosperous New Year.
Alasdair Robertson
President
Cayman Islands Law Society
IMAGE: Alasdair RobertsonPresident Cayman Islands Law Society
