The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A former Bar Association (BBA) president yesterday said he was optimistic the Bahamas would “come to grips” with permitting foreign attorneys and other specialists to enter this nation in order to develop an international arbitration centre.

Dr Peter Maynard, senior partner at Peter Maynard & Company, told Tribune Business that the ‘WHAM’ arbitration model he proposed last year offered several solutions to a controversial issue that remains an obstacle to the Bahamas becoming an internationally-recognised dispute resolution hub.

WHAM stands for Western Hemisphere Arbitration and Mediation Centre and, while no formal response was received from the Ministry of Financial Services, Dr Maynard said jurisdictions such as Singapore and Malaysia “took off” when they opened up to international cases.

“We know that Singapore took off when they recognised it should be opened up to people to come in and arbitrate matters,” he told Tribune Business.

“Malaysia did the same thing. That’s something we have to come to grips with, and I think we will. I think it’s something that we have to work on, and I’m very optimistic about that.”

Opening the Bahamas to allow foreign specialists, such as attorneys, to come in for specific arbitration cases last year resulted in a public clash between Hope Strachan, minister of financial services, and Bar Association president, Elsworth Johnson.

The Minister attacked the Bahamian legal profession’s “closed shop” for retarding the financial services sector’s growth, and argued that its ‘liberalisation’ (opening up to foreign legal specialists) was essential if the Bahamas was to establish itself as an international arbitration centre.

This prompted a furious riposte from Mr Johnson, who said “nothing could be further from the truth” in response to Mrs Strachan’s comments about a ‘legal closed shop’.

Mrs Strachan, though, received backing from attorney Caryl Lashley, Attorney Caryl Lashley, a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Bahamas’ branch, who agreed that this nation needs more “flexible” Immigration policies if it is to fulfill an international arbitration centre dream that has been harboured for more than a decade.

Dr Maynard yesterday said his WHAM proposal had four elements - domestic community-based mediation and dispute resolution; local commercial arbitration; case management; and international commercial arbitration.

By first developing strong domestic arbitration and dispute resolution ‘roots’, Dr Maynard suggested the Bahamas would create the foundations - and reputation - necessary to support a strong international arbitration component.

And, with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Bahamas’ branch training and qualifying numerous Bahamians as arbitrators, he added that this nation was fast developing the skills and ‘human capital’ capacity to deal with complex international disputes.

Dr Maynard said that if these capabilities were properly marketed to international investors and companies, the reliance on bringing foreign specialists to the Bahamas to give evidence - and hear/determine disputes - would gradually reduce.

Under the WHAM proposal, Dr Maynard said all foreign specialists entering the Bahamas for arbitration hearings would be required to register with the arbitration centre.

They would also be issued with a work permit, but no fee would be charged for “bona fide arbitrators” present in the Bahamas for just two to three weeks. Dr Maynard said this process would allow the Bahamas to know what was happening, develop statistics on arbitrations taking place in the jurisdiction, and enable it to “offer them our skills”.

“The idea is to register these [Bahamian] skill set,” he explained. “Let them [international parties] know they’re here, and let people know they’re available for international arbitration.

“That’s precisely how places like Singapore and Sweden took off, and that’s what we’re suggesting happen here.

“We’ve got the skill sets here; it’s just a question of marshalling them and organising them.”

Speaking ahead of the fourth annual Arbitration and Investment Summit, which will be held on January 22-23 and focus on Latin America and other emerging markets, Dr Maynard said several of the building blocks to establish the Bahamas as a recognised international arbitration centre were already in place.

Suggesting that his WHAM proposal could serve as the hub to make this a reality, he added that the Bahamas did not need to travel “very far”.

“As the Chinese would say, the greatest journey starts with the first step,” Dr Maynard told Tribune Business. “We’ve made some first steps, but have to make far more.

“I think the Bahamas has a great opportunity to change the mindset of people in resolving disputes, and being a place known for the timely resolution of disputes. Why shouldn’t the Bahamas become as well known as Sweden or Singapore?

“We’re a neutral place, a pleasant place to be, and have the professionals in place. I hope we’re going to develop the infrastructure to fulfill the WHAM to give focus to our efforts, and put some key things in place at an early stage.

“This can have a very positive, very substantial effect on our economy.”