B.V.I. Thursday, April 9 – The Judicial and Legal Services Commission of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) has appointed Justice Edward Alexander Bannister Q.C. as the commercial court judge assigned to the Virgin Islands (UK).

Justice Edward Alexander Bannister Q.C. was officially sworn-in by His Excellency the Governor David Pearey on March 30 at a brief ceremony held in the Governor’s Office.

Justice Bannister is responsible for supervising the establishment and organisation of the new commercial division of the High Court as a world-class commercial court; presiding over all stages of litigation concerning major domestic international or cross-border commercial claims, up to and including trial, in the ECSC and assisting in the development and refining of rules of procedure and practice in relation to such claims.

His other responsibilities will include assisting in the training of staff and in the preparation and establishment of administrative procedures for processing of claims filed in or to be tried in commercial division of the ECSC as well as assisting the Judicial Education Institute of the ECSC in designing and implementing training programmes for judges or other judicial and administrative officers of the ECSC in the specialised field of international and cross-border commercial litigation.

He is also responsible for assisting the Chief Justice with the evolution and implementation of a succession plan for judges of the High Court concerning the commercial division at the end of his contract period and undertake other judicial and educational duties in the field of international and cross-border commercial litigation as may be assigned to him by the Chief Justice of the ECSC.

Justice Bannister who is on contract for three years was educated at Keble College in Oxford England where he read Mods and Grates. He taught classics at Haileybury College in Hartford, England and was called to the bar in 1974 where he displayed his teachings in company, chancery and commercial areas, mostly in litigation.  In 1991 he became a Queen’s Counsel.

Government signed its third major contract for the main works of the Commercial Court on January 26 to provide modification, renovation and construction of the old Banco Popular Building, the site of the new commercial court.  The projected completion date of the project is June.

The objective of the commercial court project is to create a world-class court of which the Virgin Islands (U.K.) can be proud and which will attract new, high-end commercial business to the Territory.