(Trinidad Express) Eminent Queen’s Counsel, former judge of the International Criminal Court and former Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago Karl Hudson-Phillips, has died.
Hudson-Phillips, 80, passed away in England, on Wednesday night.
Throughout his prominent 55 year-old career in law, Hudson-Phillips served as AG, formed a political party, headed the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago, and was involved in many criminal cases in the Caribbean.
He was called to the bar in 1959 in Gray’s Inn, London, after reading law at Cambridge University.
In 1970, Hudson-Phillips was appointed Queen’s Counsel to the Bar of Trinidad and Tobago.
Under the People’s National Movement government headed by Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams, Hudson-Phillips served as Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs between 1969 to 1970.
In 1980 he founded a new political party, the Organisation of National Reconstruction.
Following the 1981 general elections when the ONR failed to secure a seat, an accommodation was made with the National Alliance, which later was formed into the National Alliance for Reconstruction.
Hudson-Phillips also served as Lead Counsel in the murder trial of former Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop.
In 1999 he was elected President of the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago and in February 2003, Hudson-Phillips was elected to the first ever bench of International Criminal Court judges.
Born April 20, 1933, Hudson-Phillips lived a distinguished life and career filled with numerous accolades.
In this capacity he was associated with the dreaded “Public Order Act” which was proposed by the then People’s National Movement government in response to the ‘Black Power’ riots of 1970.
In 1974 Hudson-Phillips founded the National Land Tenants and Ratepayers Association of Trinidad and Tobago and then founded a political party, the Organisation for National Reconstruction (ONR) in 1980. The party would later form an accommodation with three other political entities; the United Labour Front (ULF), the Demo-cratic Action Congress (DAC), and the Tapia House Movement, leading to the formation of the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR)
NAR contested the 1986 general elections, winning 33 of the 36 seats to form the government.
Hudson-Phillips was also a former judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC), being elected the first bench of the ICC judges in 2003. He contributed actively to the drafting of the Regula-tions of the Court before tendering his resignation in 2007 for personal reasons.
He was also President of the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago, a position he was elected to in 1999.
His most recent achievement was being bestowed with the country’s highest award, the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in 2010.
Hudson-Phillips was also immortalised in song by Calypsonian Chalkdust in his 1972 hit “Ah Fraid Karl”.
