PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Tuesday March 13, 2018 – Justice Adrian Dudley Saunders, a citizen of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, has been appointed as the incoming President of the Caribbean Court of Justice with effect from July 4, 2018.

The Heads of Government of CARICOM made the appointment at its last meeting, held in Haiti from February 26-27, 2018, acting on the nomination of the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission (RJLSC). The RJLSC had selected Justice Saunders after a competitive merit-based process.

President of the CCJ, Sir Dennis Byron, said his successor’s appointment has been greeted with pleasure by the entire Bench of the Court.

“He has served with distinction and has exhibited qualities of excellence, sharp intellect, strong moral values, leadership skills and encyclopaedic knowledge for the law tempered by things Caribbean,” Sir Dennis said.

Justice Saunders was appointed a judge of the CCJ in 2005, when the Trinidad-based court was inaugurated.

Before that, he was in private practice as a barrister and solicitor from 1977 until 1996 when he was appointed a judge of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC). In 2003, he was confirmed as a Justice of Appeal of the ECSC and one year later he was appointed to act as Chief Justice of that court.