The Legal Year 2022 opened on January 4th 2022 in a hybrid fashion, where the Chief Justice, Court of Appeal Judges, Supreme Court Judges, Magistrates and other Official participants hosted the ceremony at the Supreme Court building in person and where Attorneys and other dignitaries attended remotely via zoom link.
The ceremony today marked a welcomed improvement from last year, where covid19 numbers caused the 2021 opening ceremony to be in a strictly virtual fashion for all attendees.
This year’s ceremony saw a cadre of achievements listed by the Chief Justice in her short tenure such as:
- New Legal Aid Rules
- Establishment of a new Legal Aid Panel
- Establishment of a Legal Aid Roster for Civil and Criminal Matters
- Implementation of an 18 Month end date for Legal Aid Matters
- Establishment of a complaint mechanism for grievances against attorneys
- Establishment of Interim Payments
- Establishment of Legal Aid for Civil Cases
- Waiver of Supreme Court Fees for Civil Cases conducted under legal aid
- Establishment of Early Legal Aid from the investigative process.
- Establishment of Duty Counsels – where Legal Aid will allow those arrested on suspicion of crimes to have an attorney before charge;
- Legal Aid will extend to constitutional rights, habeus corpus, judicial review, domestic violence, contentions probate matters, welfare of Children matters, landlord dispute matters;
- Court Connected Mediation Rules
- Court to now promote ADR
- Establishment of Court mandated Alternative Dispute Resolution
- Creation of a Mediation Committee
- 42 Mediators are Trained
- Creation of a Roster of Mediators -11 are presently on the Roster
- Consultation has begun on restorative justice to pay reparation for Offences to promote reconciliation
- Establishment of Queens Counsel Selection Panel
- Establishment of Alternative Sentencing Guidelines
- Establishment of the first ever Bail Ordinance
- Establishment of a Sentencing Deadline Committee
- Establishment of a Magistrate Rules Committee
- Establishment of the Civil Procedure Rules Committee
- Establishment of Hybrid Hearings to allow Jury Trials to take place.
- Establishment of a Court/Legal Library;
- Continuous population of TCILII with judgements
- Re-Constitution of the Judicial Education Committee JEI
- JEI three workshops held for Court Staff
- JEI programs to equip Court Clerks with Paralegal training
- JEI trained the Bailiffs on Self Defence
- JEI armed Bailiffs with body cameras
- Establishment of Registrar of Magistrate Courts
- Onboarding of two Judicial Research Assistants
- Establishment of Code of Conduct for the Judiciary
- The House of Assembly have voted to provide 3 million dollars toward a state-of-the-art court building for The Judiciary.
- Two Buildings have been located and will be retrofitted to be used as Magistrate Courts in South Caicos and North Caicos.
Chief Justice Agyemang laid out other initiatives of the Judiciary and other Strategic priorities are as follows for 2022:
- The E-Judiciary initiatives will continue, that will provide paperless access to the digital platform.
- A dedicated space for ADR, being a center for parties to undertake mediation
- Legislation to bring clarity to Judicial officers is underway.
- Ethics and Integrity Training for Court Staff.
- Extensive electronic infrastructure is being implemented to improve virtual proceedings
- Ongoing work addressing gaps in treatment of Mental Health Issues and Juveniles in criminal justice
- A CJSG which is a collaboration of all stakeholders of justice that serves the public and is striving to provide a multi-level approach to provide access to quality criminal justice.
- The CJSG will also be publishing a calendar of community initiatives it will undertake to bring its work to the people they exist to serve.
Fulford views Chief Justice Mabel Agyemang in her role as Head of the Judiciary, as a Judge who sets goals and achieves them despite arduous challenges. The way in which the Chief Justice relentlessly pursues the Judiciary’s goals bodes well for the jurisdiction and no doubt her record of achievement in her short tenue will cause the TCI Judiciary to become known as a regional leader.
Fulford noted that the Turks and Caicos Islands’ Judiciary continues to grow from strength to strength because of the Chief Justice’s resourcefulness, perseverance and commitment to modernization and improvement.
Chief Justice Agyemang thanked the DPP personally and his office for assisting in the many Judiciary reforms. Further thanks were given to the Attorney General and the Bar Association through its President who was on hand to give and receive the remarks. Many thanks were Given to the Governor, Deputy Governor, Premier, Cabinet and Parliament for the support to the Judiciary.
Chief Justice Agyemang specially thanked the Acting Court Administrator Mrs Barbara Jervis, Her Registrar Ms Renee McLean and her Judicial Assistant Ms. Aisha DeFour.
In closing, The Hon. Chief Justice renewed her commitment and that of the entire Judiciary to continue to improve access to quality justice for all in TCI and to be untiring in their efforts to follow through on the plans outlined for 2022, and continue to strive to position the Judiciary to attain the stature of a resilient, and accountable institution.
Fulford indicated, it’s a rewarding time to be serving the public in the legal profession.
