By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

THE daughter of the late cultural icon Edmund Moxey has filed for judicial review of the decision to refuse her application to the Bahamas Bar Council for a second time.

Marva Moxey, a Bahamian, has alleged that the Bar Council’s decision was discriminatory in their disregard of her admission to the Australian Bar more than two years ago.

However, in a written response, the council stated that Ms Moxey’s application did not meet requirements as Australia was not an accepted jurisdiction, and the body would not take steps to include it as such.

According to the application filed on May 23, Ms Moxey’s application was refused twice – on April 13, 2012, and July 4, 2013.

In a written letter to the Bar Council in 2012, Ms Moxey wrote: “I am writing again to request my right as a Bahamian citizen applying for admission to the Bahamas Bar.

“You have to deal fairly with me and the fact that you have accepted that the Judges from Commonwealth countries other than the United Kingdom are qualified, natural justice will require that I, a Bahamian, should be treated similarly.”

Ms Moxey was admitted to the Australian Bar by the Supreme Court of Queensland on March 12, 2012, according to sworn affidavits.

Her first application to the Bahamas Bar Council was submitted on March 23, 2012. Her presenter was former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Attorney General, attorney Janet G Bostwick.

The application was refused on the grounds that it did not meet requirements under Part A of the First Schedule to the Legal Profession Act.

The highlighted section states that qualification for admission to practice – under this part of the schedule – rests on whether the applicant has been called to the Bar, or admitted to practice as a Solicitor in the Supreme Court, of “England, Scotland, Northern Ireland or Eire, or of such other country, whether within the Commonwealth or not, as may be prescribed”.

Ms Moxey contends that qualifications for admission under the section includes all Commonwealth countries, of which Australia is a member, and did not require special consideration.

She underscored the previous appointment of Australian judges, adding that their qualifications to serve in the Bahamas rested upon their membership to the Bar of a Commonwealth country, “membership of which is a qualification for admission to practice as counsel and attorney in the Bahamas”.

“They could have only sat if their membership at the Australian Bar was a qualification for admission to practice as Counsel and Attorneys in the Bahamas,” Ms Moxey’s letter read.

“If Australia needed to be prescribed but was never prescribed then those Judges that qualified in Australia and were appointed as Judges to the Supreme Court never had authority to make binding decision.”

“While the Bar Council never put it in writing, they have acceded to the interpretation that membership in all Commonwealth countries satisfies the requirement for admission to the legal profession in the Bahamas.”

However, in their written explanation for the July refusal, the Council maintained that Ms Moxey’s application did not meet qualifications.

The council explained that the Treaty of Chagaramus, the agreement that established the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), imposed an international obligation to restrict qualifications for admission to pre-existing terms. Although the treaty obligations are not enshrined in domestic law, the council did not wish to deviate from its responsibilities without a majority vote by members of the Bahamas Bar Association.

The council stated that Ms Moxey did not provide evidence that the Bar was notified of the appointment of Australian judges; or that there was no objection to the appointments; or whether the judges only held admission to the Australian Bar.

It was also pointed out that the appointment of judges did not fall under the purview of the Council, but the Judicial Legal Services Commission; there is no mechanism to notify the Bar of a proposed appointment; criteria for the appointment of judges is not a condition precedent for admission to the Bar.

The Bar Council’s letter continued: “You (Moxey) ought to have been aware that the existence of the aforesaid treaty obligations militated against the prescription of any new country. We must take it that in the face of this you undertook your course of study. We find that in those circumstances you cannot have a legitimate expectation of the prescription of Australia and your subsequent admission.”

However, Ms Moxey’s submission includes references to enquiries she made “in or about October 2011, prior to matriculating at Bond University in Queensland, Australia to pursue the Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice” of the then president of the Bar Council, Ruth Bowe-Darville, about her possible admission to the Bahamas Bar upon her completion of the diploma.

“I was informed by Mrs Bowe-Darville that she would look into the matter and revert to me through the Freeport’s Representative on Bar Council Petra Hanna-Weekes. In or about February 2012, prior to my remitting my tuition to the said University, I was informed by Mrs Petra Hanna-Weekes that Mrs Bowe-Darville had indicated to her that I must ensure that I am admitted to the Australian Bar before I return to the Bahamas and hopefully I would return while she was still President of Bar Council.”