Justice Adrian Saunders will be sworn in today as the new President of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). This is scheduled to take place before the opening ceremony of the 39th Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government Summit.
The Heads of Government of CARICOM made the appointment in February, last. The appointment was made acting on the nomination of the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission (RJLSC). The RJLSC had selected Saunders after a competitive merit-based process.
The event will be addressed by CARICOM Chairman, Prime Minister Andrew Holness of Jamaica; Outgoing Chairman, President Jovenel Moise of Haiti; Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados; Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell of Grenada; Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua and Barbuda; and CARICOM’s Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque.
Saunders is Chairman of the Caribbean Association of Judicial Officers (CAJO). He is also the Course Director of the Halifax-based Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute and the co-author of the book, Fundamentals of Caribbean Constitutional Law.
The Judge holds a Bachelor of Laws Degree from the University of the West Indies (Cave Hill) and the Legal Education Certificate of the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad and Tobago. He was called to the Bar of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in 1977.
The citizen of St. Vincent and the Grenadines remained in private practice as a barrister and solicitor from 1977 until 1996 when he was appointed as a Judge of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC). In 2003, he was confirmed as a Justice of Appeal of the ECSC and one year later he was appointed to act as Chief Justice of that Court. He was appointed a Judge of the CCJ in 2005.
