Bar Association votes quash Attorney General Bernard Pitts

Bernard B.Q. Pitts

While the new CJ is at the start of his tenure, the to and fro between the PM, the Attorney General and the Bar has been ongoing for some time. It took a strange turn when on the August twenty-sixth, the AG Bernard “B. Q.” Pitts called on the Bar Executive to withdraw a press release that it had issued expressing continued concern with the Ninth Amendment. According to the AG, the Executive had no mandate to issue the release. Soon the Executive countered with its release saying that it would not withdraw it since members been consulted and had approved.

Cheryl Krusen

This public disagreement was settled Wednesday night at a meeting of the Bar Association. News Five has been informed that the attendance was huge and the Government pulled out all the stops. Attorneys who had never been to a meeting turned up. The AG himself was present and basically led the attack against the Executive backed up by attorneys Lois Young and Denys Barrow. After heated exchanges, the Bar Executive got overwhelming support for the release. The Bar also decided to seek an expert legal opinion from Dr. Albert Fiadjoe, a well known expert on constitutional law and former Dean of the Faculty of Law at UWI. Again, the AG objected on this issue and called for a vote. The AG was deflated when members by more than two thirds majority gave the nod to seeking expert opinion.

Michel Hannah Chebat Jr.

Another hot issue was discussed. Solicitor General Cheryl Krusen has been appointed senior counsel. There was strong condemnation by members. A committee was set up to consider the validity of the appointment and to consider whether a legal challenge would be appropriate. According to the law, a person needs to be practicing for eight years to be eligible for senior counsel appointment. This afternoon a release dated September fourteenth from the Supreme Court announced the appointment of Krusen, also known as Cheryl Thompson Barrow, and attorney Michel Hannah Chebat Jr. to senior counsel.