The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The proposed Family Court provides a “model” for the development of a dedicated Commercial Court, a leading QC said yesterday, describing such a move as critical to “the rebranding of the Bahamas as an international business centre”.

Brian Moree QC, senior partner at McKinney, Bancroft & Hughes, told Tribune Business that a specialist Commercial Court would more than pay for itself by “attracting greater business volumes” to the Bahamas.

Adding that such a dedicated court would help to further propel the Bahamas’ international arbitration centre ambitions, Mr Moree said these reforms - when combined with the financial services industry’s product menu and quality regulation - could make the country a true global business player.

Arguing that the financial services sector’s product/legislative platform “can compete with any major onshore or offshore centre”, Mr Moree said the ability to resolve commercial disputes in a timely, cost-effective fashion was vital to the Bahamas’ ability to grow its way out of its looming fiscal problems.

Backing the proposals for a specialist Family Court, Mr Moree told Tribune Business: “This would provide a very useful model for the development of other, specialist courts in the country.

“In this regard, I would strongly support the formal introduction of a Commercial Court in our court system.......

“This would strongly support the financial services industry and the rebranding of the Bahamas as an international business centre and, in my view, provide a first step towards an international arbitration centre.”

Calling for dedicated Commercial Court to be equipped with specialist judges and “state of the art technology”, Mr Moree said that providing an arbitration capability in the Bahamas was becoming increasingly important.

This was due to both “the current climate in the business community” and the direction court and justice systems throughout the world were taking.

The well-known QC noted that “so many business instruments”, including banking and trust issues; public-private partnerships; industrial and commercial documents; joint ventures; and business relationships were including arbitration clauses as a first reference point in the event of a dispute.

This was happening, Mr Moree said, due to the “general perception” that court systems throughout the world, not just in the Bahamas, took a long time to hear and resolve cases.

In addition, going through the court system was “extremely costly” and put the dispute/parties’ affairs in the public domain, whereas arbitration offered confidentiality.

And, finally, when it came to arbitration, the parties could select arbiters who were highly skilled in the technical areas under dispute.

“If we have a functioning, state of the art Commercial Court, together with - even as a pilot project added on to that - an arbitration centre, which would out of necessity have to start fairly modestly and be developed over time, and put that next to a specialist Family Court, you get to the point where we have a modern, highly developed system of justice in the Bahamas,” Mr Moree told Tribune Business.

He said these reforms, together with an arbitration centre that would resolve disputes otherwise clogging up the court system, would free up resources for dealing with criminal, civil, admiralty and probate matters.

While acknowledging that the Government’s financial resources were limited, Mr Moree said: “These developments would not involve substantial capital expenditure.

“In my view, the results that accrue from these developments in terms of attracting greater business to this jurisdiction would more than pay for any investment in developing a Family Court, specialised Commercial Court together with an international arbitration centre.”

The prominent QC added that the combination of a specialised Commercial Court/arbitration centre would also serve as a “competitive advantage” for the Bahamas over rivals.

Their creation, he suggested, would give investors confidence that any disputes would be resolved in a timely, cost-effective and private manner, helping to attract increased business and investment volumes to the Bahamas.

“If we want to try and position ourselves as one of the major business centres in the world, we will have to demonstrate that we have a court system that is able to effectively and independently resolve complicated business disputes in a reasonable time period, and at a cost considered reasonable by international standards,” Mr Moree said.

“In my view, it is critical to develop a specialised Commercial Court to address these matters.

“The correlation between the movement and investment of money, and the increased activity of business - both those factors are closely correlated to jurisdictions which are politically stable, and which offer economic and effective resolution of disputes. Business cannot operate in an environment without it.”

While some were arguing that there was not sufficient case volume to justify the creation of a dedicated Commercial Court, Mr Moree said the practical experiences of himself and his colleagues suggested otherwise.

He added that a Commercial Court would “attract international attention” that supported the financial services sector, and provide “another factor to consider when doing business in the Bahamas”.

“In my view, the establishment of a Commercial Court would not only be just on the basis of present cases, but provide a further incentive for new businesses to be started in the Bahamas,” Mr Moree told Tribune Business.

It would also link into the Bahamas’ recently enacted solvency reforms, and various financial services product developments.

“We now, have in this country, a legislative platform that I think can compete with any major developed or offshore jurisdiction in terms of product,” Mr Moree told Tribune Business.

Adding business-friendly, high quality regulators into the mix, he added: “If we ever get to the point where we can combine these three areas (court system, legislation/products and regulators), now you’re really talking seriously about competing on the international stage. These are the key factors if we’re serious.

“If we’re going to find alternative means of revenue to fund our country, and continue to attract business to be a key player on the international stage, we are going to have to make modest in these areas to develop a competitive advantage.”

This, Mr Moree said, was vital to generating the economic growth necessary to get the Bahamas out of its looming fiscal issues.