The Chief Justice, The Hon. Justice Margaret Ramsay Hale, BSc (Econ)(LSE), LLB (UWI)
Date Appointed
Appointed since 2020
BIOGRAPHY
The Chief Justice of the Cayman Islands, The Hon. Justice Margaret Ramsay Hale, is a distinguished legal professional with Cayman, Jamaican, British and Turks and Caicos nationality. Educated at LSE and UWI, she was called to the Bar of England & Wales at Gray’s Inn in 1988 and to the Bars of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court and Turks and Caicos Islands in 2001. Her career spans private practice, Crown Counsel, and judicial roles across Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos. Notably, she served as Chief Magistrate of the Cayman Islands, Chief Justice of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and is currently a sitting Judge of the Grand Court in addition to being the Chief Justice of the Cayman Islands.
Justice Ramsay Hale has also contributed to legal education as a lecturer and actively participated in Commonwealth judicial training and development programs. Her leadership roles include Vice President for the Caribbean Region and Council Member of the Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association. She has been involved with the National Drug Council and chaired Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Cayman Islands. An Honorary Bencher of Gray’s Inn, she has frequently spoken on judiciary independence at international conferences.
Qualifications
- Called to the Bar of Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (St Vincent and the Grenadines), 2001
- Called to the Bar of Turks and Caicos Islands, 2001
- Called to the Bar of England & Wales at Grays Inn, 1988
- Bar Finals – Inns of Court School of Law, 1988
- LLB (Hons), 1987
- Called to the Bar of Turks and Caicos Islands, 2001
BAR, JUDICIAL EXPERIENCE
- Private practice 1991-1994, appearing as an advocate in a wide range of criminal and civil matters at all levels of the Court
- Crown Counsel, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, 1994 – 1995
- Judge, St. James Family Court, Jamaica (and later, the Family Courts of Hanover and Westmoreland) 1995 – 1997
- Resident Magistrate for St. James, Jamaica, 1998
- Magistrate, Summary Court, Cayman Islands, 1998 – 2008
- Acting Judge of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, 2006
- Chief Magistrate of the Cayman Islands, 2008 – 2011
- Judge of the Supreme Court, Turks and Caicos Islands, 2011 – 2014
- Appointed to the Panel of Acting Judges of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, 2013
- Chief Justice of the Turks and Caicos Islands, 2014 – 2020
- Judge of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands from 2020
- Honorary Bencher, Hon. Society of Gray’s Inn
EXTRA-JUDICIAL ENGAGEMENTS
- Part-Time Lecturer in criminal law, Cayman Islands Law School (now Truman Bodden Law School) 2000 to 2010
- Guest Lecturer in criminal law, International College of the Cayman Islands, 2008 and 2009
- Session leader, regional training workshops on criminal procedure reform, domestic violence and special measures for vulnerable witnesses under the aegis of the Commonwealth Secretariat, 2011 – 2016
- Participant, consultative seminars on the development of a model law on Judicial Service Commissions led by the Commonwealth Secretariat, Wellington, NZ and the Cayman Islands, 2015
- Keynote Speaker and panel presenter on issues bearing on the independence of the Judiciary, Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association conferences, 2015 – 2019
Memberships
- Vice President for the Caribbean Region, Commonwealth Magistrate and Judges Association 2012- 2015
- Council Member, Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association (CMJA) 2009 -2012
- Member, National Drug Council of the Cayman Islands, 2001 – 2006, 2010 – 2011
- Chair, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Cayman Islands, 2000 – 2010
Sir Anthony Smellie KCMG KC, J.P. LLD (H.C.) (Liverpool); LLB (Hons.) (U.W.I.) CLE.
Justice Smellie attained his LLB (Hons) degree from the University of the West Indies in 1975 and his post-graduate professional qualifications as a Commonwealth Caribbean attorney-at-law from the Norman Manley Law School, Jamaica, in 1977. He was admitted to practice as an attorney-at-law in Jamaica in 1977.
He served as Clerk of Court for the parish of Westmoreland, Jamaica from 1977-1978 and was appointed Crown Counsel in 1978. He later became Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions for Jamaica, a post in which he served for 5 years. While practicing at the Public Bar in Jamaica he also served as an Associate Lecturer at the Norman Manley Law School.
Justice Smellie is an alumnus of the International Development Law Institute, Rome, Italy and of the London Business School (Executive Education Programme).
He accepted appointment as Principal Crown Counsel for the Cayman Islands where he relocated in 1983. He was appointed Solicitor-General in 1987 and acted as Attorney General for the Cayman Islands on several occasions until he accepted appointment as a Judge of the Grand Court in February 1993.
In August 1991 he was appointed as Queen’s Counsel.
Justice Smellie was, as a Cayman Islands representative, one of the founding members of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force, the regional offshoot of the G7 FATF and as such was responsible for leading Cayman’s response to the very first CFATF mutual evaluation. In recognition of his work on the CFATF/FATF he was appointed as a team member of the FATF’s mutual evaluation of the United States legal and financial regimes, in 1996.
Justice Smellie was appointed as Chief Justice of the Cayman Islands in June 1998 and continues to serve in this capacity. He also serves as the Mutual Legal Assistance Authority under the Cayman – United States MLAT.
Justice Smellie’s work on the bench has been recognised by the conferment of several honorary appointments:
- Honorary Bencher of the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn, London, England
- Honorary Doctor of Laws (Liverpool) conferred August 2006
- Honorary Fellow Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London
- Patron: Commonwealth Law Journal, Oxford University Press;
- Member – Insolvency Practitioners International (Insol);
- Appointed by the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners as a judicial member in April 2013.
- Nominated as a member of the International Hague Network of Judges for the Convention of the Protection of Children: July 2011 to June 2013;
- Appointed as a Member of the International Insolvency Institute as of April 25 2017.
- Justice Smellie was certified as a Mediator by the London School of Mediation (September 2015)
He was most recently appointed to the Court of Appeal of Bermuda in March 2018.
In his capacity as a law officer of the Crown, Judge, and Chief Justice, Justice Smellie has represented the Cayman Islands at many international conferences and symposia, speaking on topics as varied as Judicial Leadership, Youth Justice, Restorative Justice, Judicial Independence, Money Laundering control, Trusts, Human Rights, Corporate Insolvency and Re-organisation and the Forfeiture and Recovery of the Proceeds of Corruption.
Papers given by him have been published in various publications, including the Beijing Law Journal, the UNDCP, and the U.W.I. Law Journal, the Journal of Money Laundering Control, and the Commonwealth Judicial Journal.