New Draft Bermuda Plan In Operation
On 3 December 2018, the Department of Planning released the Draft Bermuda Plan 2018 (the “Draft Plan”), which became operational on the same date. The Draft Plan details the land…
Bermuda Press (Holdings) Case – An Update
Following the July 2015 ruling in Bermuda Press (Holdings) Ltd. v Registrar of the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice subsequently issued a Practice Direction (No. 23 of 2015) regarding access to court records in civil cases. In the Bermuda Press case, discussed in this post, the Chief Justice had noted that access rights would still […]
Harkin: An Important Decision for Human Rights in Employment Law
A recent decision of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Bermuda given on 23 November 2015, illustrates the importance of adherence to Human Rights’ provisions in the employment context. In what has been referred to as a landmark decision, the Chief Justice upheld a decision of a Board of Inquiry that Mr. Harkin […]
Changes to Bermuda’s Criminal Law – An Update
In early July of this year, I wrote a blog post detailing two proposed Criminal Law Reform bills: the Disclosure and Criminal Reform Act 2015 (the “Disclosure Act”) and the Criminal Jurisdiction and Procedure Act 2015 (the “Procedure Act”). At that point, the Bills had been passed by the House of Assembly on 5 June […]
Bermuda Introduces Draft Model Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA)
In the USA, “Companies and marketing firms have been gathering information about customers and potential customers for years, collecting their names and addresses, tracking credit card purchases, and asking them to fill out questionnaires, so they can offer discounts and send catalogues. But today we are giving up more and more private information online without […]
Landmark Ruling by Chief Justice Regarding Access to Court Documents and “Open Justice”
Bermuda Press (Holdings) Ltd. (“BPHL”), the parent company for the local daily newspaper The Royal Gazette, commenced proceedings against the Registrar of the Supreme Court (the “Registrar”) following the Registrar’s refusal of BPHL’s application to obtain copies of Affidavits and Exhibits filed in a case pending in the Supreme Court. The case involved a dispute […]
Enhancements to Legislation with an Eye on Private Equity
The vast majority of partnerships on the Bermuda registry are said to be private or closed-end funds. Hailed as an important part of the government’s efforts to achieve growth in the asset management area, amendments have been made to partnership and company legislation to enhance the flexibility and efficiency of Bermuda exempted and limited partnerships […]
Corporate Service Provider Business Act 2012 & Corporate Service Provider (“CSP”) Business Amendment Act 2014 (collectively the “Act”)
The Bermuda Monetary Authority (“BMA”) held an informational session on the 24th of July, 2014 regarding the licensing of a CSP. Ms. Tamara Anfossi of the BMA announced that the CSP regime commencement date is pending amendments to the Exchange Control Act 1972 (“Foreign Exchange”). It is anticipated that the amendments to Foreign Exchange will […]
Proposed Changes to Bermuda’s Criminal Law
In May of this year, the Attorney General introduced two Bills in the House of Assembly that contained several measures aimed at reforming Bermuda’s criminal law, with the goal of enhancing efficiency. The Disclosure and Criminal Reform Act 2015 (the “Reform Bill”) and The Criminal Jurisdiction and Procedure Act 2015 (the “Procedure Bill”) (together the […]
Analyzing The Legality of a Forfeiture Clause Within a Bermuda Will
In an anonymised ruling of December 2014, In the Matter of the Estate of PQR, Deceased [2014] Bda No. 205, Chief Justice Kawaley analysed the legality of a forfeiture clause within a Bermuda will. The point of construction was one that had not been determined as a matter of Bermuda law and turned on the […]
Q & A with Bermuda’s first Information Commissioner, Gitanjali S. Gutierrez
I had the pleasure of sitting down with Mrs. Gitanjali Gutierrez in my office at MJM last week for a one-on-one interview about her background, role as Bermuda’s first Information Commissioner, and the Public Access to Information (PATI) Act implementation. A fascinating woman, she spoke passionately about her new role and the way PATI is […]
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