I was horrified after reading Abraham Thoppil’s (President, Caymanian Bar Association) address at the 2017 Opening of the Grand Court.

Whilst the president congratulates Government on “grasping the nettle and presenting a ” Legal Practitioners Bill “that the CBA can support”, he is less happy about the current Immigration policy in its “lack of success in providing due recognition and protection to the plight of many hundreds of expatriates.”

He further went on to say:

“The immigration regime itself needs drastic overhaul. Unfortunately, today, it inadequately serves both the needs and legitimate expectations of Caymanians and those of the many foreign workers, be they in professional services or otherwise, who contribute to the vibrancy of our community, and success of our economy. The reality today is that even Government departments appear to be inconsistent in applying the definition of something as fundamental as who is a Caymanian. The consequences range from the issue of whether a child may benefit from free medical treatment, to Caymanian ownership of local businesses or to the most fundamental of constitutional considerations.

The president even quoted Lord Carnwath in a recent decision of the Supreme Court1 of England and Wales:

“The public, and particularly those directly affected by immigration control, are entitled to expect the legislative scheme to be underpinned by a coherent view of its meaning and the policy behind them.”
The transition to the use of ‘Plain Language’ (now seen in the Legal Practitioners Bill, 2016) in drafting all our laws and regulations will also help – as legislation poorly conceptualised and mired in overly technical language, are a detriment to the development and effective application of our laws.“

Going back to the new Legal Practitioners Law he said the bill “will not, and cannot, resolve all the issues facing Caymanian lawyers. Some involve questions of principle and do not offer easy solutions.

“For example the CBA has long been concerned about the lack of opportunity for Caymanian litigators to gain experience and progress. The problem is aggravated by an increasing dependence on the English Bar even in cases where there are local alternatives and litigation departments have sound and capable lawyers. Video conferencing increasingly allows control to be overseas with Cayman attorneys sometimes marginalized to the point they can add little value. With no real price penalty,

“Silks are doing from their chambers interlocutory matters that could be done here by locals. There are widespread fears that we are training a profession of solicitors and of a self fulfilling prophesy of Cayman lawyers being unequal to compete in advocacy. It has dire long term consequences for the senior advocacy profession and the local recruitment of judges. Although the Court pushed back, I gather there has even been a case in which the parties announced that their counsel would appear by
Video Link. This is symptomatic of a mindset here and in London. Not so gradually that scenario is becoming commonplace and, unless challenged, it may become the norm. This is a public policy issue that will have to be addressed in the near future.”

I congratulate the president for making these problems so public and hope the powers that be are listening and, unlike the urgent need for a new Court building, these problems will be looked at and rectified.

Unfortunately, I have heard “the lack of opportunity for Caymanian litigators to gain experience and progress before”.

Many of us have thought the profession of law is a license to become very rich. However, like the society we live in today, it does not apply to the majority. It is the minority. And they make the rules to keep it that way.

That is why the USA have elected Trump as their president. He struck a note with the evaporating middle class and they are grabbing at a straw. It is ironic that many of the persons he has strongly said he is championing are actually protesting his legitimacy. The power of some of the media that is controlled by the same elite rich minority that wants things exactly as they are.

In every profession there is the same club. I hadn’t given a thought to the profession of attorneys also having one.