The CCJ Academy for Law yesterday announced the selection of 48 regional lawyers to be recognised as luminaries and among them are eight from Guyana including Senior Counsel Rex McKay.
Of the eight named, McKay and Dr Claude Denbow SC are the only ones alive. The others are the recently deceased Ashton Chase SC, Professor JOF Haynes, Dr. Mohamed Shahabuddeen SC, Sir Lionel Alfred Luckhoo SC, Sir Fenton Ramsahoye SC and Clarence Hughes SC.
These lawyers are to be recognised as ‘Legendary Caribbean Legal Practitioners’ in the third instalment of the Academy’s Eminent Caribbean Jurist series. A release from the CCJ Academy for Law said that among the awardees are giants of the legal profession representing historical, transitional, and contemporary epochs of law and development in the region.
The Academy, which serves as the educational arm of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Guyana highest court, created the Eminent Caribbean Jurist Awards Series in 2019 as a means of recognising and honouring the contribution of Caribbean jurists.
The legal legends, it said, were selected by the CCJ Academy-appointed Regional Selection and Advisory Committee, which first met on 27 September 2022. Nominations were submitted from bar associations, judiciaries, journalists, the Council for Legal Education and its law schools, other law schools in the region, professional associations, and former Eminent Caribbean Jurists. One hundred and fifteen nominations were received from which 48 were selected having regard to regional and temporal distribution, the release said.
As part of the project, a brief profile was prepared for each honouree by specially selected essayists. The profiles will be compiled into a publication to memorialise the contribution of the legal practitioners to the development of law in the region. It is anticipated that the publication will be launched and available to the public in January 2024. The release said that with the Academy’s previous publications, it is hoped that highlighting the work of these legal personalities will inspire the younger generation of practitioners.
The full list of the selected Awardees follows:
1. Anguilla Hon. Mme Justice Joyce Kentish-Egan K.C.
2. Antigua and Barbuda Mr. Time H. Kendall K.C.
3. Bahamas Sir Eugene Dupuch K.C.
4. Barbados Sir Grantley Adams K.C.
5. Barbados Sir Harold “Bree” St John K.C.
6. Barbados Sir Jack Dear K.C.
7. Barbados Sir Henry Forde K.C.
8. Barbados Sir David Simmons K.C.
9. Barbados Sir Richard Cheltenham K.C.
10. Belize Mr. Derek Basil Courtenay S.C.
11. Belize Mr. B. Simeon Sampson S.C.
12. Belize Sir W.H. Courtenay K.C.
13. Belize Mr. H.W. Young K.C.
14. British Virgin Islands Dr. Joseph Archibald K.C.
15. Grenada Mr. Carol Bristol K.C.
16. Guyana Professor J.O.F. Haynes S.C.
17. Guyana Mr. Rex McKay S.C.
18. Guyana Mr. Ashton Chase S.C.
19. Guyana Dr. Mohamed Shahabuddeen S.C.
20. Guyana Sir Lionel Alfred Luckhoo S.C.
21. Guyana Sir Fenton Ramsahoye S.C.
22. Guyana Mr. Clarence Hughes S.C.
23. Guyana Dr. Claude Denbow S.C.
24. Haiti Dr. Monferrier Dorval
25. Jamaica Mr. Norman Manley K.C.
26. Jamaica Mr. Vivian O. Blake K.C.
27. Jamaica Mr. Dennis Morrison K.C.
28. Jamaica Dr. The Hon. Lloyd Barnett
29. Jamaica Dr. Kenneth Rattray K.C.
30. Jamaica Mr. Ian Ramsay K.C.
31. Jamaica Mr. Frank Phipps K.C.
32. Jamaica Hon. Mme Justice Hilary Phillips J.A. K.C.
33. Jamaica Mr. David Coore K.C.
34. Jamaica Mr J.A.G. Smith
35. St. Kitts-Nevis Sir Lee Moore K.C.
36. St. Lucia Sir Vincent Floissac K.C.
37. St. Vincent and the Grenadines Mr. Parnel Campbell K.C.
38. Suriname Mr Freddy Kruisland
39. Suriname Mr. Ben Halfhide
40. Suriname Mr. Stanley Marica
41. Trinidad and Tobago Sir Hugh Wooding K.C.
42. Trinidad and Tobago Mr. Tajmool Hosein K.C.
43. Trinidad and Tobago Mr. Karl Hudson-Phillips K.C.
44. Trinidad and Tobago Hon. Mr. Justice Michael de la Bastide K.C.
45. Trinidad and Tobago Sir Ellis Clarke K.C.
46. Trinidad and Tobago Mr. Allan J Alexander S.C.
47. Trinidad and Tobago Mr. Desmond Allum S.C.
48. Trinidad and Tobago Mr. Frank Solomon S.C.
