Profiles of the six new Queen’s Counsels

Myrtle Brandt, Director of the Legislative Drafting Department     

A well respected legislative draftsperson of the Caribbean since 1977, Brandt has served in the capacity of First Legislative Counsel and head of the Legislative Drafting Department of the Cayman Islands Government since 2001, having joined the department in 1999 as Senior Legislative Counsel.

In her current capacity, Brandt heads a team of legislative counsel and administrative staff, ensuring, among other responsibilities, the provision of an efficient legislative drafting service for the government.

In her drafting role here in Cayman, Brandt has been responsible for preparing complex primary and subsidiary legislation relating to a variety of subjects, including witness protection, protection of persons with disabilities, criminal law, health, education, elections, immigration, public utilities and the public service.

Among international and regional assignments over the years, she served with the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development as Regional Law Reform Drafter.

Ross McDonough          

McDonough commenced practice in the Cayman Islands in 1994 as an Associate at Campbells, becoming a Partner in 2000. At present he is a Senior Partner and Managing Partner of the firm’s Hong Kong Office. As a leader at the local commercial bar, he has an outstanding record of litigating important commercial cases, although he has over the years engaged in a broad range of civil and criminal litigation.

McDonough has appeared not only before Cayman’s Grand Court and Court of Appeal, but has also argued as lead counsel before the Privy Council in London, the highest court of appeal for Cayman cases. Locally, he has appeared in numerous hearings for which judgements have been reported in The Cayman Islands Law Reports.

Sheridan Brooks

Brooks, principal in the firm Brooks and Brooks, has over 31 years post-qualification experience in both civil and criminal litigation. She served as crown counsel in the Attorney General’s Chambers for a number of years and for a short period as legal draftsperson in the Legislative Drafting Department.

Brooks is widely regarded as a leader in local family law. As such she has provided legal opinions in US and Canadian courts on Cayman Islands matrimonial and child proceedings. She has similarly provided assistance in Succession Law matters. Many of her cases have been reported in The Cayman Islands Law Reports.

The newly appointed QC assisted with the revision of the Trade & Business licence Law and the Local Companies (Control) Law, and has assisted with establishing the first gender equality tribunal.

She is currently assisting with the revision of the policies and procedures for the adoption of children.

Solicitor General Jacqueline Wilson           

Wilson was appointed as Solicitor General of the Cayman Islands in June 2012. In that capacity she also serves as Chief Officer of the Portfolio of Legal Affairs.

As Chief Officer, Wilson is responsible for the management and supervision of a team of approximately 50 staff with high levels of experience and seniority, spread over the Solicitor General’s Office, Legislative Drafting Department, Law Reform Department, Law Revision Commission, the Cayman Islands Law School, and the Financial Reporting Authority.

Wilson’s current position and her former appointments in the public service sector, spanning some 26 years at the public bar, have earned her extensive experience in constitutional and administrative law.

The honing of this expertise can be traced back to the beginning of her legal career in 1990, when she spent seven years in the Solicitor General’s Department of the Office of the Attorney General of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, where she rose to the rank of Acting Senior State Counsel. There she developed a specialisation in judicial review and constitutional matters and appeared before all levels of court, including the Privy Council.

Adding to that experience, Wilson served as Crown Counsel in the Cayman Islands Legal Department from 1997 to 2002, when she continued to have conduct of judicial review matters and played a key role in co-ordinating and executing requests for assistance by foreign judicial and prosecutorial authorities.

During that period, upon the request of the Government of Montserrat, Wilson was temporarily seconded to serve as Counsel in the Attorney General’s Chambers of Montserrat, where she appeared before the Court of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court to represent the Government in human rights proceedings. Wilson also served as legal examiner for the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) in the mutual evaluation of Jamaica, as part of the global effort to combat money laundering and financial crime.

Solicitor General Wilson’s substantial experience in financial services regulation and implementation of enforcement action included the period from 2003 to May 2012 when she served as Director of the Legal and Enforcement Division of the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission.

In that capacity, she instituted numerous applications against regulated entities to enforce compliance with the BVI’s regulatory laws, including applications for the appointment of liquidators, administrators and the grant of orders for injunctive relief.  She played a key role in the Commission’s admission to membership of several international regulatory organisations through effective negotiations and by making detailed recommendations for reform of the regulatory laws and procedures.

Hector Robinson  

Robinson has had a distinguish career as an attorney in both Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. He specialises in civil and commercial litigation, latterly in cases that have had significant cross-border elements.

He commenced practice in Cayman in 2000 at Quin and Hampson as an associate. By 2005 he was made partner and continued in that position when that firm merged with Mourant Ozannes in 2007.

Robinson has appeared in both the Grand Court and the Court of Appeal as lead or junior counsel in many cases that have been reported in The Cayman Islands Law Reports.

In relation to public service, Robinson has served the Cayman Islands as a Commissioner of the Cayman Islands Law Reform Commission in its systematic review and development of local laws. He is a member of the Grand Court Rules Committee charged with statutory responsibility for formulating rules regulating criminal and civil procedures of the Grand Court and lower courts, and he is a member of the Insolvency Rules Committee that makes the rules regulating the practice and procedures of the Grand Court’s insolvency jurisdiction.

Given his expertise and experience, Robinson has been accepted as an expert on Cayman Islands law in proceedings of Federal and State Courts in the United States.

Benjamin Tonner

Tonner has achieved the distinction of being the first member of the criminal bar to be appointed Queen’s Counsel.

He has enjoyed an exemplary career marked by a number of notable defence briefs including the HSA/FIFA fraud litigation, the Operation Tempura corruption investigation, and multiple trials involving the most serious crimes of fraud and/or violence, such as the Estella Scott Roberts murder prosecutions.

Although perhaps best known for his high profile defence work, Tonner has also achieved some distinction in the corporate, financial and regulatory legal arena. He holds an LL.M. in corporate and commercial law and recently advised a well-known Cayman Islands retail bank in relation to contentious, international proceedings. Tonner’s busy and diverse practice also encompasses areas as varied as financial services, mutual legal assistance, immigration and employment law.

Despite his heavy workload, Tonner finds time to contribute to the development of both the law and related institutions of the Cayman Islands. In 2015, he was appointed to the Cayman Islands Human Rights Commission. He sits on the Criminal Justice Reform Committee and the Criminal Justice Board, both of which support and seeks to improve the administration of justice in these islands.

Tonner also sits on the executive boards of the Cayman Islands Company Managers Association, the Cayman Islands Compliance Association and the Cayman Islands Defence Bar Association.