By NATARIO McKENZIE
Tribune Bsuiness Reporter
nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net
The often-lengthy time taken by the Judiciary to render judgments “does more harm” to the Bahamas’ reputation “than anything else”, a Cabinet Minister has warned.
Damian Gomez, minister of legal affairs, noting that it sometimes took judges up to nine months to deliver verdicts in commercial matters, urged that the Supreme Court become “the bastion of legal excellence” in the Bahamas.
This, he said, would help boost the Bahamas’ attractiveness as an international arbitration hub.
Speaking as a panellist at a pre-International Council for Commercial Arbitration Congress(ICCA) conference last Friday, Mr Gomez said: “The reputation of the jurisdiction and delivery of its legal services is important. We have yet to establish a commercial court of the Supreme Court, although there has been a lot of talk about that in recent years.
“We still have judges on the civil side who are taking in excess of nine months to render a decision. That does more to harm a jurisdiction’s reputation than anything else. We met over a period of years as a committee appointed by the Chief Justice to develop new rules of the Supreme Court to streamline the processes. It has take an awful long time for those rules to emerge.
“We’re told that it will happen in June of this year, but these are the types of steps which provide the backdrop against which international litigants look at the Bahamas.”
Mr Gomez added: “We need a commitment, and I am satisfied that we do have that from the Government, to ensure that even though the Supreme Court is not going to be interfering in arbitration matters, it becomes the bastion of legal excellence in a jurisdiction. Persons will look to us in expectation that they are able to get judicial services of the highest calibre within the most efficient period of time.”
Mr Gomez said the development of domestic arbitration, and the promotion of local arbitrators, was also important to establishing the Bahamas as an international arbitration hub.
“One of the things we probably need to do is appreciate what we do have in terms of our resources and begin utilising them in the domestic field,” he added.
“It is in developing the domestic reputation that you gain a reputation as an arbitrator, which may well lend itself to you being promoted as a person who ought to be utilised. Right now, in the domestic field, there are very few arbitrations that are being conducted.”
Another panellist, Lawrence Teh, partner at Rodyk & Davidson in Singapore, said: “The more that the law allows the judiciary to interfere with arbitration, the less attractive it gets. The whole idea with arbitration is that it is fast.
“In the Caribbean, fast and judiciary do not always go together. As soon as courts get involved, it slows down the process. The whole idea is that it is fast and effective. The judiciary must support the arbitration but not intervene, or as less as possible.”
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