Governor of Anguilla Calls for Regulation of the Legal Profession

The Governor of Anguilla, HE Alistair Harrison called for the regulation of the legal profession in Anguilla during a speech to the Anguilla Financial Services Industry on Friday, 20 November where he was emphasizing the need for raising financial regulation standards on the island.  

“The legal profession is closely linked with the financial services industry in many ways, and regulation of each would benefit the other” the Governor said.

“I have found in most countries where I have lived that the general public does not necessarily share the legal profession’s view of itself as the “noblest profession” and - rightly or wrongly - the Anguillian public is no exception. Regulation would help to address this” he said to his audience.

He cited two models as examples that may be looked at, namely; a Legal Professions Act as enacted by in Antigua and Barbuda and elsewhere; or the statutory fleshing out of the short reference to regulation in the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Act, a model followed by St Vincent and the Grenadines.

“The legal profession, like every part of the judicial system, has to meet the highest ethical standards - a lawyer’s first duty is to the Court as an officer of the Court, not to his or her client – and it is only right that those standards should be clearly and simply enforceable”, added Mr. Harrison.