Judges of the Caribbean Court of Justice
The Hon. Mr. Justice Adrian Saunders, a native of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of the West Indies (Cave Hill) in 1975 and a Legal Education Certificate from the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad & Tobago in 1977. He began his legal career as a barrister and solicitor in private practice in his home country.
In 1990, he established the firm of Saunders & Huggins before being invited to join the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) High Court Bench in 1996. On 1st May 2003, Mr. Justice Saunders was appointed to the ECSC’s Court of Appeal and served as acting Chief Justice between 2004 and 2005.
The Honourable Mr Justice Wit was born on 24 December 1952 in Haarlemmermeer, The Netherlands. He studied law from 1971 to 1977 at the Vrije Universiteit (Free University) of Amsterdam, from which he took the degree of Meester in de Rechten (Master of Laws) with honours. After completing his military service (1976-1978) as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Dutch Navy, he was admitted in March 1978 as a Judicial Trainee at the Studiecentrum Rechtspleging (Training and Study Centre for the Judiciary) in Zutphen, the Netherlands, where he remained enrolled until 1984. During this period, he held the posts of Griffier (Law Clerk) in the Rotterdam District Court, Rotterdam, (1978-1980) and plaatsvervangend Officier van Justitie (Deputy Prosecutor) at the Amsterdam District Court (1980-1982) and worked as an advocaat (attorney-at-law) with the Law Firm of Van Doorne & Sjollema in Rotterdam (1982-1984).
The Hon. Mr. Justice Winston Charles Anderson is of Jamaican nationality and upbringing. He was born in Saint Ann’s Bay and raised in Brittonville, Saint Ann, Jamaica. He attended the Brittonville Primary School and later the Ferncourt High School in Clermont, Saint Ann from which he transferred to the Saint Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) in Kingston. He entered the Faculty of Law, University of the West Indies (UWI) in 1980, and graduated in 1983 with the Degree of Bachelor of Laws, (Honours). From 1983 to 1984, he taught International Law, among other subjects, at the UWI Faculty of Law, whilst also pursuing the Masters in Law degree there.
In 1984, Mr Anderson proceeded on a Commonwealth Scholarship to Cambridge University in England and graduated with a Doctorate in Philosophy in 1988, majoring in International Law as well as Environmental Law. Also, in 1988, he completed a course of training at the Inns of Court School of Law in London (Honours) and was called to the Bar of England and Wales, as a Barrister of the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn.
The Hon. Mme. Justice Maureen Rajnauth-Lee was sworn in as a Judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) at a ceremony at the Office of the President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago on the 27 March 2015. She is the first woman citizen of Trinidad and Tobago to be appointed to the CCJ bench.
She is a former Justice of Appeal of the Trinidad and Tobago Judiciary; a graduate of the University of the West Indies with a Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) and of the Hugh Wooding Law School. Admitted to practise law in 1980, she served in the Solicitor General’s Department and in 1986, embarked on a career in private practice.
The Honourable Mr. Justice Denys Barrow, citizen of Belize, is a graduate of the University of the West Indies with a Bachelor of Laws and received a Legal Education Certificate from the Norman Manley Law School. He was admitted to the practice of law in Belize in 1977 and embarked on a career in private practice. In 1990, Mr. Justice Barrow was elevated to Senior Counsel and went on to start his own law firm “Barrow and Company”.
Mr. Justice Barrow’s judicial career included service as High Court Judge in St. Lucia, Grenada, Belize and the British Virgin Islands between 2001 and 2005, Justice of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court from 2005 to 2008 and Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal of Belize from 2010 to 2012.
The Honourable Mr. Justice Andrew Burgess, a native of Barbados, was sworn in as a CCJ Judge on 18 January 2019. He was previously a Court of Appeal Judge in Barbados, a Dean of the Faculty of Law at The University of the West Indies’ Cave Hill campus and a Professor of Corporate and Commercial Law. At the University of the West Indies, he had the distinction of being the longest-serving dean at the Law Faculty’s Cave Hill campus. He also was the first law graduate to be appointed a professor and also serve as dean. In 2013, Mr. Justice Burgess was awarded by the Office of Alumni Relations of the University of the West Indies for his outstanding contribution to the Faculty of Law.
He is currently a judge on the 7-member panel of the World Bank Administrative Tribunal, having been appointed in 2013 for a 5-year period. In 2017, he was elected by his fellow Judges to be the Vice President of the tribunal. The Tribunal is the final and binding forum of last resort for the resolution of cases submitted by members of the staff of the bank alleging non-observance of their contracts of employment or terms of appointment. The present World Bank Administrative Tribunal also comprises judges from the United States, Argentina, Egypt, Sierra Leone, Iran and France.
The Honourable Mr. Justice Peter Jamadar obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree, UWI (Hons) in 1982 and his Legal Education Certificate from the Hugh Wooding Law School, St. Augustine in 1984. In 1984, he was admitted to the Bar of Trinidad and Tobago. On September 15, 1997 he was appointed a Puisne Judge of the High Court, and on October 1, 2008 he was elevated to the Court of Appeal of Trinidad and Tobago. Prior to this, he was in private practice as an Attorney-at-Law in Chambers with his father Vernon Jamadar from 1984 to 1991, and a partner in the firm Jamadar and Kangaloo from 1991 to 1994. He is a former President of the Assembly of Southern Lawyers and former Executive Member of the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago. From 1994 to 1997, Mr. Justice Jamadar attended the University of Toronto, Canada and obtained the degree of Master of Divinity (First Class). In June 2004, he completed the Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute’s (CJEI) Intensive Study Programme for Judicial Educators and he became a Fellow of the CJEI; he is now Vice President (Programming) and a Faculty member of the CJEI. Mr. Justice Jamadar is the current Vice Chairman of the Caribbean Association of Judicial Officers (CAJO). He is deeply involved in judicial education nationally, regionally and internationally. He is also a certified Transpersonal Psychologist (2007) and a certified Mediator (2011).
Past President and Judges
The Right Honourable Mr. Justice Michael de la Bastide TC, was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, on 18 July 1937. He attended St. Mary’s College, Port of Spain , from 1945 to 1955, where he won the Trinidad & Tobago Open Scholarship (Languages) in 1954. From St. Mary’s, he proceeded to Christ Church College of Oxford University, which he attended from 1956 to 1960, where he read Law.
He obtained the degrees of Bachelor of Arts (Jurisprudence) with First Class Honours in 1959 and the Bachelor of Civil Law, also with First Class Honours, in 1960. A member of Gray’s Inn from 1956, Mr. de la Bastide was part-time tutor in Law at Christ Church from 1960 to 1961. He was called to the Bar on February 7, 1961. In that same year, he was awarded a Stuart Cunningham Macaskie Scholarship and a James Mould Scholarship by Gray’s Inn.
The Honourable Mr. Justice Duke E.E. Pollard (Guyana) received his secondary education at Queen’s College (Guyana), after which he took the B.A. (Hons) and the LL.B (Hons) degrees from the University of London. He followed these with Master of Laws (LL.M.) degrees from both McGill and New York Universities. The Honourable Judge is also: the holder of the Legal Education Certificate from the Norman Manley Law School; a member of the Bars of Guyana and Jamaica; and a Fellow of the Centre for International and Comparative Law of McGill University.
Over the years, Mr. Justice Pollard has established himself as an expert jurist in international law, specialising in international economic law, the Law of the Sea, international institutional law, the Law of Treaties, general integration law and economic integration law.
The Honourable Mme. Justice Désirée Bernard, a citizen of Guyana, read Law at the University of London, graduating with the LLB (Hons.) degree in 1963. Qualifying as a solicitor in 1964, the then Ms. Bernard engaged in private practice in the High court of the Supreme Court of Guyana from 1965 to 1980. During that period, she was appointed a magistrate (1970), Commissioner of oaths & Notary Public (1976) and was admitted to the English Roll of Solicitors (1977).
Thereafter, Mme. Justice Bernard established a number of professional “firsts,” being appointed the first female High Court Judge of the Supreme Court of Guyana (1980); the first female Justice of Appeal (1992); the first female Chief Justice of Guyana and in the Commonwealth Caribbean (1996); and the first female Chancellor of the Judiciary of Guyana and in the Commonwealth Caribbean (2001). Mme. Justice Bernard took the oath of office as a Judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice at the Court’s inauguration Ceremony, on Saturday 16 April 2005.
The Honourable Mr. Justice Rolston Nelson obtained his secondary education at Queen’s Royal College, where he was a House Scholar and National Scholar. The then Mr. Nelson read Modern Languages and Jurisprudence at the University of Oxford, graduating with Honours in each discipline. He later specialised in commercial law and was awarded the degree of Master of Laws (LLM) of the University of London. Mr. Nelson was called to the Bar at Lincoln’s Inn in 1970, and entered Chancery Chambers as a pupil of two of the leading Chancery Juniors. In 1973, he was appointed a tutor at the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica, and was admitted to practise at the Jamaican Bar in the same year. Two years later, in 1975, Mr. Nelson was admitted to practise at the Trinidad & Tobago Bar and began private practice in 1976. In October 1993, he was admitted to the Inner Bar as a senior counsel.
Mr. Justice Nelson was sworn in directly from the Bar as Justice of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Judicature of Trinidad & Tobago on Wednesday 12 May 1999, by then Acting President of the Republic, Mr. Ganace Ramdial. Mr. Justice Nelson was sworn in as Judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice on Tuesday 1 February 2005, by His Excellency Professor George Maxwell Richards, then President of the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago. As Senior Judge, Mr. Justice Nelson has served as Acting President of the Court on several occasions.
Sir Charles Michael Dennis Byron was born in Basseterre, St. Kitts on July 4, 1943 the first of four children of Vincent and Pearl Byron. Sir Dennis won the Leeward Islands Scholarship in 1960 and went on to read law at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University from which he graduated with an M.A and an LL.B. In 1965, he was called to the Bar of England and Wales by the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple.
Sir Dennis Byron distinguished himself in private practice as a Barrister‐at‐Law and Solicitor throughout the Leeward Islands, with Chambers in St. Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla from 1966 to 1982. His judicial career began in 1982 when he was appointed as a High Court Judge of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. In 1999, he was appointed Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, having acted in that position for two years. As Acting Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Byron made the establishment of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Judicial Reform Programme a matter of high priority.
The Honourable Mr. Justice David Hayton, born in 1944, won a free scholarship to Newcastle Royal Grammar School before studying 1963-66 at Newcastle University, whence he graduated with an LL.B. with 1st Class Honours and the Rennoldson Memorial Prize for topping his year, having also been runner up in the March 1966 final of the UK Universities’ Mooting Competition judged by Lord Reid. From 1966-1969, he was a Law Lecturer at Sheffield University, and was called to the Bar in 1968, having obtained the Treasurer’s Prize for topping the 1968 Bar Finals Exam. After pupillages with Michael Miller and Peter Millett (1969-1970), he practised as a Chancery barrister, ultimately specialising in domestic and international trusts and succession. He was made a Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn in 2004.