Jamaican Attorney-at-Law, Donovan Walker was elected president of the Organization of Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Associations (OCCBA) at the organization’s meeting, held last Saturday (January 28)

OCCBA comprises the bar and law associations from 15 jurisdictions of the Commonwealth Caribbean, specifically Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago and the Turks & Caicos Islands.

Walker, a former President of the Jamaican Bar Association (JAMBAR) and a current council member of the Jamaican General Legal Council, will serve a two-year term together with a newly elected OCCBA executive comprising- vice presidents Sophia Chote SC (Trinidad) and Lorraine Glace (St. Lucia), secretary Shirlan Barnwell (St. Vincent) and treasurer Sherri-Ann Bradshaw (Antigua). 

As part of its mandate, OCCBA seeks to promote greater access to justice, promote the rule of law and defend and promote human rights issues, and also ensure that the administration of justice throughout the region is done in accordance with the law.

In his remarks to the OCCBA meeting the immediate past President Ruggles Ferguson (Grenada) stated, “It has been an honour to be President over the last four years, uniting the lawyers of the region. We have been able to create, sustain and entrench a vibrant OCCBA brand: an OCCBA Journal; an OCCBA Website; OCCBA Continuing Legal Education; 9 OCCBA Honourees; and the launch of an OCCBA Distinguished Lecture Series. The baton has now been passed to Donovan Walker and his new team to continue to build on the established foundation. The team has my full support.”

President Walker in his remarks to the OCCBA meeting commended the excellent work of the outgoing OCCBA administration led by Ruggles Ferguson. Walker feels that “OCCBA, as an umbrella body impacting thousands of Attorneys-at-law in CARICOM, has a continued important role to play in legal professional development and standards in the region, giving tangible support to important regional institutions such as the Caribbean Court of Justice, the Caricom secretariat, the Council of Legal Education and the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission. We need to work closely with our colleagues in the Commonwealth (particularly the Commonwealth Lawyers Association) and other international bodies to promote, protect and preserve the rule of law, human rights and the administration of justice in the Caribbean and worldwide”.  

Since 2019, OCCBA has been honouring and recognizing legal luminaries of the Commonwealth Caribbean with a total of nine (9) legal stalwarts awarded to date. Last Saturday OCCBA recognized the work of, and contribution to, Caribbean Jurisprudence by 2 legal stalwarts, the Honourable Justice Michael de la Bastide (Trinidad) and the Honourable Justice C. Dennis Morrison (Jamaica).