GEISHA KOW­LESSAR-ALON­ZO

Se­nior Re­porter

geisha.kow­lessar@guardian.co

Jus­tice Rol­ston Nel­son, SC, a re­tired judge of the Caribbean Court of Jus­tice (CCJ), has is­sued a call for re­form in Trinidad and To­ba­go’s le­gal pro­fes­sion, urg­ing at­tor­neys to re­store ci­vil­i­ty and adopt manda­to­ry con­tin­u­ous le­gal ed­u­ca­tion to ad­dress de­clin­ing stan­dards.

Speak­ing at the an­nu­al din­ner and awards cer­e­mo­ny of the Law As­so­ci­a­tion of T&T (LATT) on Fri­day, Nel­son re­flect­ed on the tra­di­tions of the 1970s com­pared with to­day’s prac­tices.

“When I start­ed prac­tice in 1975, bar­ris­ters wore wigs and nev­er shook hands,” he re­called. “Courts were not air-con­di­tioned, and when the judge dis­pensed with his gown, coun­sel did like­wise.”

While these cus­toms have fad­ed, Nel­son ex­pressed con­cern that ca­ma­raderie has been re­placed by “sav­age hos­til­i­ty,” par­tic­u­lar­ly ev­i­dent in pre-ac­tion pro­to­col let­ters. He re­mind­ed at­tor­neys of Rule 41 of the Code of Ethics, which re­quires con­duct to­wards col­leagues to be char­ac­terised by cour­tesy, fair­ness, and good faith, warn­ing that in­ap­pro­pri­ate be­hav­iour—phys­i­cal, ver­bal, or non-ver­bal—could lead to dis­ci­pli­nary ac­tion.

High­light­ing short­com­ings in ar­eas such as con­veyanc­ing and le­gal opin­ions, he stressed that the de­cline has co­in­cid­ed with the dis­ap­pear­ance of the cham­ber sys­tem and men­tor­ship un­der ex­pe­ri­enced prac­ti­tion­ers.

“Thus, the process of learn­ing over time from the pooled wis­dom of lead­ers of the bar is fast dis­ap­pear­ing,” Nel­son said. “The task of main­tain­ing stan­dards is im­posed on the Law As­so­ci­a­tion by Sec­tion 5A of the Le­gal Pro­fes­sion Act. This man­date would be sat­is­fied by a pro­gramme of manda­to­ry con­tin­u­ing le­gal ed­u­ca­tion.”

Nel­son not­ed en­cour­ag­ing steps, in­clud­ing a No­vem­ber 2024 dis­cus­sion pa­per on manda­to­ry con­tin­u­ing le­gal ed­u­ca­tion is­sued by the As­so­ci­a­tion of Ju­nior At­tor­neys of T&T.

He al­so point­ed to a rapid­ly shift­ing fi­nan­cial and le­gal land­scape fol­low­ing the in­tro­duc­tion of the Vir­tu­al As­sets and Vir­tu­al As­set Ser­vice Providers Bill, 2025. The leg­is­la­tion, pre­sent­ed in Par­lia­ment ear­li­er this year, seeks to reg­u­late cryp­tocur­ren­cy and oth­er dig­i­tal as­set ac­tiv­i­ties un­der the over­sight of the Trinidad and To­ba­go Se­cu­ri­ties and Ex­change Com­mis­sion (TTSEC).

While the bill aligns with glob­al an­ti-mon­ey laun­der­ing stan­dards, its re­stric­tive pro­vi­sions have sparked de­bate. The most con­tentious, Clause 4(3), im­pos­es a two-year mora­to­ri­um on li­cens­ing vir­tu­al as­set ser­vice providers, ef­fec­tive­ly freez­ing the sec­tor un­til 2027. Nel­son al­so high­light­ed the ab­sence of a prop­er­ty frame­work for dig­i­tal as­sets—sim­i­lar to the UK’s Prop­er­ty (Dig­i­tal As­sets Etc) Act—cre­at­ing un­cer­tain­ty around own­er­ship rights and le­gal reme­dies.