Hugh Anthony Rawlins, a national of the Federation of St Christopher (St. Kitts) and Nevis, has held the position of Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court since May 2008 and served as Justice of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court from 2005 to 2008.
Chief Justice Rawlins was High Court Judge of Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica and the British Virgin Islands from January 2002 to August 2005. In December 2000, he acted as High Court Judge in St. Lucia and the Commonwealth of Dominica and from August 2000 to January 2002, he was Master of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. He was Solicitor General of St. Kitts and Nevis and Permanent Secretary in the Legal Department from October 1989 to January 1995, after which he became a full-time Lecturer of Law at the University of the West Indies for the next 5 years, following a brief temporary lecturing stint there in 1994.
During the period November 1988 to October 1989, he held the position of Registrar of the High Court of St. Kitts and Nevis and Additional Magistrate, appointed with full responsibility for District ‘B’, St. Kitts; from October 1985 to December 1988, he was Crown Counsel of St. Kitts and Nevis. From February 1976 to September 1985, he was Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Lands, Housing and Labour in St. Kitts and Nevis. During this time, he acted in the Office of Permanent Secretary in that Ministry and in the Ministry of Nevis Affairs, as well as in the Ministry of Nevis Communications, Post and Public Utilities on various occasions. From 2004 to 2005 he was a member of the Judicial and Legal Services Commission of the British Virgin Islands. From 2004 to 2006 he was Chairman of the Judicial Ethics Committee of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court and from 2004 to 2007, Chairman of this Court’s Judicial Education Institute.