New Chief Justice’s vision to improve Bermuda’s judiciary
A modern process for hearing complaints about judges and an annual report on the judicial system are among the top priorities for new Chief Justice Ian Kawaley.Mr Justice Kawaley, who took on the role on Tuesday, also wants to see a more “coherent and consistent” procedure for appointing judges.He told The Royal Gazette he would like a mechanism allowing members of the public who are dissatisfied with the services provided by the courts to have their concerns addressed.“I think thus far we have been focusing in Bermuda on the central role of delivering justice through deciding cases, but we have not necessarily paid enough attention to the other roles of the judiciary: accountability to the public and the appointment and recruiting processes,” he said.“I do think it’s important now for us to maintain the standards set in the past with the delivery of justice and improve them where needed, but also perhaps to break new ground in the area of accountability and the promotion and recruitment spheres.”He explained: “I would like to see us reporting more formally to the public on the work of the courts on an annual basis.“In terms of the area of judicial concerns, I would like to see us develop a more modern machinery for receiving and adjudicating complaints against the judiciary.“That might be seen by some, looking at it superficially, to be diminishing judicial independence by exposing judges to more complaints than are currently made. However, if you look at it more deeply it strengthens it because if the public have a vehicle to make a complaint, where complaints are not made out, the credibility of the judiciary is strengthened in that way.”Mr Justice Kawaley said at present, there is no formal statutory procedure in Bermuda for making complaints. If a member of the public has a gripe about a judge other than the Chief Justice, then it must be directed to the Chief Justice. If it does involve the top judge then it must go the Governor.Mr Justice Kawaley is interested in setting up a tribunal as in the UK where there is a panel made up of judges and lay people to adjudicate complaints.“This is something I would propose to look at in more detail,” he said.He explained that the issues such a panel could look at “may be complaints relating to perhaps the way a litigant was dealt with by a judge in the course of a hearing. On occasion it might be felt that although there is no appealable error, the manner in which the judge dealt with the proceedings left a sense of unfairness.”On the topic of selecting judges, he would like to see the development “of a more coherent procedure for selecting and appointing judges which is more consistent with what I would call best Commonwealth practice in the area today”.At the moment, judicial appointments are decided upon by the Governor on what Mr Justice Kawaley described as an “ad hoc basis as the need arises”.He suggested that a formal Judicial Service Committee could be set up in Bermuda as in most independent Commonwealth countries to make such decisions, or simply an informal advisory committee to assist the Governor.He would also like a set of standards to guide those who wish to become judges, together with a “more organised process” involving the use of temporary appointments to allow candidates to demonstrate their suitability.Mr Justice Kawaley said that as a Bermudian Chief Justice, he feels he brings to the role “a greater interest in the long-term future of the judiciary”.He explained that he has studied the history of the courts in Bermuda going back to 1615 and takes a keen interest in that, while at the same time “looking forward to the future”.
Dr Ian Kawaley, 56, is the new Chief Justice of Bermuda, replacing Richard Ground, who held the post for eight years.He previously served as a Supreme Court judge from 2003 and a Commercial Court judge from 2006.He was born in Bermuda and completed his schooling and legal training in England. Besides a law degree from Liverpool University and a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science, he also holds a PhD in law from London University. His focus during his doctoral studies was International Law.He was called to the Bermuda Bar in 1980 and spent his early career as a government lawyer here and in the Seychelles, and as a legal aid practitioner in London.His role in recent years has focused primarily on commercial litigation and insolvency law as a judge with Bermuda’s Commercial Court.He intends to continue that focus as Chief Justice and limit his involvement in criminal cases to supervising Magistrates’ Court and hearing appeals from that court.Although his predecessor in the role oversaw criminal trials as well as civil and commercial cases, the new Chief Justice said: “It would be the exception rather than the rule that I would get involved in the criminal trial domain.”Mr Justice Kawaley is married, with one adult son. His father was an educator who moved to Bermuda from Sierra Leone in 1951 to become a teacher at the Berkeley Institute. His Bermudian mother was also an educator.He enjoys writing in his spare time, and during his time at the Bar he penned a number of letters to the editor and newspaper articles on constitutional matters.He is a regular presenter at international conferences, and the author of numerous articles on offshore commercial, constitutional and public international law.He also enjoys following sport and is a fan of Somerset Cricket Club.“The one thing I would have difficulty in being impartial about is the Cup Match result,” he admitted.
