Lawyers for senior Walkers’ attorney Mark Lewis appeared in court yesterday, setting an April trial date on a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Mr Lewis, 52, with Walkers for 16 years locally, is managing partner for clients and senior investment funds, specialising in mainstream corporate work and hedge funds. He is also chairman of the executive committee of the Alternative Investment Management Association, which looks after the hedge fund industry in the Cayman Islands.

A 30 November hearing in the case was in camera, preventing any report of the summary court proceedings following an order by presiding Magistrate Valdis FoIdats.

Appearing yesterday before Magistrate Nova Hall, Samson and McGrath, attorneys for Mr Lewis agreed to an 11 and 12 April, 2012, trial date after Acting Senior Crown Counsel Nicole Petit told the court prosecutors required two days for the case.

Excused from appearing, Mr Lewis was not in court.

Police on Monday said the charge had been laid previously: “We can confirm that a 52-year-old man has been charged and appeared in court in relation to one count of Assault ABH.”

Mr Lewis joined Walkers after graduating with a master of laws degree in corporate finance and international taxation from Cambridge University in 1993.

A member of the bar in the Cayman Islands, England and Wales, Western Australia and the Federal Courts of Australia, Mr Lewis has worked with Denton Hall in London and Japan, in the banking, corporate finance and entertainment law departments.

He has also worked on international asset finance and capital markets transactions in Russia, Poland and Hungary, specialising in mainstream corporate work, investment funds and asset finance.

In 2011, Chambers Global Guide lauded Mr Lewis for three decades of experience, calling him “highly esteemed” with his “main strength’ in hedge fund administration”.

“A super lawyer, a leading light”, according to the guide, in 2010 it called Mr Lewis “very much the face of Walkers” with “an excellent reputation for funds work. He is also very active on regulatory issues, driving initiatives on behalf of the whole offshore industry.”

He has also appeared in both the 2010 and 2011 International Who’s Who of Private Funds Lawyers, topping the list as the most highly nominated practitioner in the Cayman Islands in 2004.