Last Updated on Friday, 29 September 2023, 17:58 by Denis Chabrol
Eight Guyanese lawyers are among the latest list of 48 exceptional Caribbean lawyers to be recognised as âLegendary Caribbean Legal Practitionersâ in the third instalment of the Academyâs Eminent Caribbean Jurist series, according to the Caribbean Court of Justice’s (CCJ) Academy for Law.
They are Senior Counsel Professor J.O.F. Haynes, Rex Mc Kay, Ashton Chase, Dr. Mohamed Shahabuddeen, Sir Lionel Alfred Luckhoo, Sir Fenton Ramsahoye, Clarence Hughes and Dr Claude Denbow.
“Among the awardees are giants of the legal profession representing historical, transitional, and contemporary epochs of law and development in the region,” the Academy said.
The full list is available here
The legal legends were selected by the CCJ Academy-appointed Regional Selection and Advisory Committee, which first met on 27 September 2022. Nominations were submitted from bar associations, judiciaries, journalists, the Council for Legal Education and its law schools, other law schools in the region, professional associations, and former Eminent Caribbean Jurists. One hundred and fifteen (nominations were received from which 48 were selected having regard to regional and temporal distribution.
 The Academy, which serves as the educational arm of the CCJ, created the Eminent Caribbean Jurist Awards Series in 2019 as a means of recognising and honouring the contribution of Caribbean jurists to the law and societal development.
The Academy said that as part of the project, a brief profile was prepared for each honouree by specially selected essayists.
“These profiles will be compiled into a publication to memorialise the contribution of these outstanding legal practitioners to the development of law in the region. Â It is anticipated that the publication will be launched and available to the public in January 2024.
As with the Academyâs previous publications, it is hoped that highlighting the lives and work of these Caribbean legal personalities will inspire the younger generation of practitioners,” the CCJ Academy said.