CHAIRMAN of the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission (RJLSC) and President of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Justice Adrian Saunders, has announced that Justice Andrew Burgess, currently a Justice of Appeal in Barbados’ Court of Appeal, will become a judge of the CCJ in 2019.

In a release, the CCJ said that Justice Saunders warmly welcomed the newest CCJ Judge, stating, “Mr. Justice Burgess brings with him a wide range of international and regional experience, which will be a great complement to the outstanding jurists already serving the Court. I look forward to him joining us in the new year and I am confident that he will continue the tradition of excellence that has characterised his career thus far”.

Justice Burgess who is the first Barbadian to be appointed to the CCJ became a Court of Appeal Judge in 2010. He was previously a Dean of the Faculty of Law at The University of the West Indies’ Cave Hill campus and a Professor of Corporate and Commercial Law. He also had a distinguished career internationally as a judge of the Inter-American Development Bank’s Administrative Tribunal in Washington D.C. Mr. Justice Burgess was the body’s Vice-President in 2007 and 2009 and served as President from 2009-2010.

He is also a judge on the World Bank Administrative Tribunal, having been appointed in 2013. In 2017, he was elected by his fellow judges to be the Vice President of the tribunal. He was a Senior Commonwealth Fellow at Oxford University, England, between 1992-1993.

Justice Burgess is also an author, having published the Commonwealth Caribbean Company Law in 2013 and The Law of Corporate Receivers and Receiver-Managers in 2002, in addition to being published on legal issues especially in corporate and commercial jurisprudence. Mr. Justice Burgess’ appointment will fill the vacancy left by the elevation of Mr. Justice Saunders to the position of President in July 2018.