by Oscar Ramjeet
The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court has a new Chief Justice. He is Hugh Anthony Rawlins who has been serving as a Court of Appeal Judge since 2005 and has held many legal positions for the past two decades having worked as Crown Counsel, Registrar/Magistrate, Solicitor General, and Master before his elevation to a High Court Judge in 2002.
Justice Rawlins, who was born in Nevis in 1950, was also a schoolteacher, and labour commissioner before he studied law. He later became a lecturer in law at the University of the West Indies between 1995 and 2000. He was called to the Bar in St Kitts/Nevis in 1985 after completing his LLB degree and his Certificate in Legal Education at the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica.
Justice Rawlins has succeeded Sir Brian Alleyne, SC of Dominica, who acted for three years as head of the judiciary, but was never confirmed.
A release from the OECS Secretariat said that on April 24 the Secretariat communicated to the Lord High Chancellor, Jack Straw, a request to lay before the Queen on behalf of the OECS Authority, a recommendation for the appointment of Justice Rawlins to the position of Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) with effect from April 29.
The ECSC, headquartered in St Lucia, is the Superior Court of Record for nine OECS Member States: Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands.
