The Tribune

A well-known Bahamian attorney has narrowly missed being elected secretary-general of the International Bar Association (IBA).

Dr Peter Maynard, who spent months on the campaign trail visiting overseas jurisdictions and meeting international legal figures, made it to the final stages of the election process where he lost to Horacio Bernardes-Neto, head of the IBA’s Bar Issues Committee.

Dr. Maynard was seeking election to the IBA’s 3rd top post. He was in fourth spot on the campaign trail as head of the Public Professional Interest Division (PPID).

Elsworth Johnson, the Bahamas Bar Association’s president, was in Tokyo to support Dr Maynard’s campaign.

In a statement, Dr Maynard said he ran for the IBA’s secretary-general post because he wanted to challenge it “to lead the legal profession in addressing the critical issues that will shape the 2020’s, such as anti-corruption, rational alternatives to war, equal opportunity, diversity and the rule of law”.

He added that he wanted “to make the IBA more accessible to lawyers from all regions of the world, with greater IBA activity in emerging markets”.

Dr Maynard said he had been committed to the IBA since the early 1980s, including acting as chair of one of the two IBA Divisions – the PPID.

His experience was employed across several committees of the Legal Practice Division, including the insolvency, anti-corruption, asset tracing and recovery, arbitration, mining law, banking, corporate mergers and acquisitions, and maritime sections.

The IBA has 55,000 lawyer and more than 200 bar association members.