By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas Bar Association’s president yesterday slammed claims that the legal profession was operating ‘a closed shop’, adding: “Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Elsworth Johnson told Tribune Business he would be seeking a meeting with Hope Strachan, minister of financial services, over her suggestion that the Bahamian legal profession was costing the Bahamas significant financial services business.

Suggesting that the Minister was recycling an old argument, Mr Johnson said the Bahamas would have to “disabuse the notion” of a legal ‘closed shop’ that now might be held in international business circles.

Countering Mrs Strachan, the Bar Association president said the Legal Profession Act reflected exactly what was in the Immigration Act - that if no Bahamian with the necessary expertise could be found, then work permits can be applied for.

Mr Johnson said that if Bahamian attorneys could ‘make the case’ for outside assistance, then foreign counsel would temporarily be called to the Bar and the Immigration authorities alerted to the need.

He suggested the recent Baha Mar hearings before the Supreme Court provided “the best example” to show the Bahamas was not ‘a closed shop’ when it came to the legal profession, as both the developer and the Government hired UK-based QCs to lead their respective cases.

He also cited the dispute between wealthy Bahamas residents, the Weissfisch brothers, as another occasion when foreign attorneys had been permitted to practice in the Bahamas.

“This issue is not of recent vintage. I must respectfully disagree with the honourable minister; the Bahamas is not a closed shop,” Mr Johnson told Tribune Business.

“I’m going to have to have a conversation with the Minister, and make an appointment to see her. We need to go on to the international stage and disabuse the notion that we’re a closed shop.

“Someone has pushed this message, and it’s not so. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Mrs Strachan, addressing a Bahamas Institute of Financial Services (BIFS) conference on Wednesday, said she and the financial services industry had received direct international feedback that the inability of foreign law firms and specialist attorneys to practice in this nation was costing it significant financial services business.

Calling for the Bahamian legal profession to “liberalise”, Mrs Strachan said: “The Bahamas is notoriously recognised for its closed shop policy towards foreign lawyers and certain other industry professionals.

“On a recent industry-related trip, it was communicated that this continues to be an impediment as to why more business is not being referred to the Bahamas, despite our advanced legislation, our location and proximity to the US, our language, political stability, our cadre of well-educated and experienced professionals, and our reputation as a well-regulated and respected international financial centre.

“This was a common unsolicited theme from many of our friends and industry partners. The question is what should be done about it? Are we prepared to recognise the problem and do something to fix it?”

Mr Johnson said Mrs Strachan’s comments were effectively repackaging the argument, which he believes has changed from ‘the Bahamas lacks legal expertise’ to the now-’closed shop’.

Emphasising that foreign attorneys would also be allowed to enter the Bahamas if it was “in the public interest”, Mr Johnson said the Government “spends thousands, if not millions of dollars” annually to train attorneys at institutions such as the Eugene Dupuch Law School.

“There are a number of lawyers that cannot find work,” the Bar Association president added, implying that an influx of foreign attorneys would only exacerbate this problem.

Mrs Strachan’s argument, which was voiced by her predecessor, Ryan Pinder, has previously been supported by senior Bahamian attorneys and financial services specialists, such as Brian Moree QC and Bryan Glinton.

They see the ability of foreign law firms and specialist attorneys to practice in the Bahamas as creating ‘a rising tide that lifts all boats’, due to the increased international business they would bring with them.

Mr Moree and others have also emphasised in the past that this would not act as an ‘open Sesame’ to all-comers, and the presence of foreign law firms could be permitted with the proviso that they train and hire a certain number of Bahamians, thereby facilitating knowledge transfer.

Still, Mr Johnson yesterday argued that the ‘closed shop’ notion was confined to a small “special interest group”, who wanted to take all the financial services-related business for themselves.

He called no names, but said some felt Bahamian attorneys should be restricted to practice areas such as family and criminal law.

“Having regard to our history, we don’t want to be the doorkeeper. We don’t want to sweep,” Mr Johnson told Tribune Business.

“The Bahamas is not a closed shop. We welcome all. We just admitted another [foreign lawyer] for another thing. But if we have our local experts and persons like our QCs, let them do their work.

“We want to say we’re here, and if we can do the work, let’s do it.”

Mr Johnson said he did “not trust” a nation such as Singapore, which is often held up as a shining example of the benefits stemming from the admission of foreign attorneys, due to its failure to permit media freedom, and freedom of conscience and freedom of expression.