At the end of last week the Progressives-led government and opposition assembly members had proposed more than 150 amendments to the legislation – currently running at more than 100 pages. There have been several attempts to redraft the bill over the past 15 years.

Support

A statement from the Cayman Islands Law Society said: ‘The bill brings the framework governing Cayman’s legal profession into the modern era and must be passed in order for the Cayman Islands to comply with current international best practice. ‘The bill also lays a solid foundation of opportunity for current and future generations of Caymanians.’

Opposition

However, taking a contrary view of the matter some local lawyers wrote angry letters to lawmakers urging them to oppose the plans. One letter, written by a lawyer Anna Goubault who is resigning from an international firm, read in the assembly last week explained how non-Caymanian associate lawyers who had less experience at the firm were promoted over her. And local law firm partner Sharon Roulstone who also wrote letter to assembly members said: ‘I witnessed many Caymanians being held down professionally …. [I can] say with complete confidence that this was due to the fact that our only real failings were that we were Caymanians. Some partners even went so far as to expressly say so and I was, in fact, verbally assaulted by a senior equity partner as being a “f***ing ignorant Caymanian.’

Balance

Opposition Leader Bush pushed for compromise on the legislation during his parliamentary debate, acknowledging that he was very aware that Caymanian lawyers had been discriminated against in the local legal profession. However, he also warned that the territory should also guard against ultra-nationalist paths that had damaged another Caribbean jurisdiction during the 1960s.