The Americas / Foreword from Dr Peter Maynard, Vice President of the Americas Hub

19/10/2022
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Welcome

It is a great pleasure to welcome you to this first edition of the Americas Hub newsletter. It has been prepared with the diligent and attentive help of Sophie Stanbrook, the Commonwealth Lawyers Association Council member for the Turks and Caicos Islands, who has kindly agreed to serve as our Americas Hub newsletter editor.

It is quite a challenge to bring together contributions from such a vast and diversified region. We have 22 countries ranging from Canada to the Caribbean region and also to more remote places such as the Falkland Islands and the British Antarctic Territory. The latter countries may be actively embraced at a later stage and any suggestions in this regard are appreciated. In the meantime, it is pleasing that our Canadian colleagues continue to make engaging and consistent contributions and that fresh energies are being tapped regarding many Caribbean jurisdictions.

In the latter group, there are well established journals produced by the Jamaican Bar, the Organization of Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Associations, the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States Bar Association and others. For example, the Barbados and Guyana Bar Associations and the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago are also quite proactive and it is anticipated that contributions can be secured from them in due course. Our colleagues from the Bahamas, Cayman Islands, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and the Turks and Caicos Islands have consistently provided informative Council country reports that offer excellent insights into pressing events in their respective countries. It is expected that the country reports may point in the directions of newsletter articles of interest to the rest of the Commonwealth.

We also have the privilege of quite a large number of young lawyers in this Hub. Therefore, I anticipate that they will make their presence felt even more by writing pieces for the newsletter. I do not want to leave anyone out. The point is that now is the time to step forward and provide contributions for future newsletters.

For the reader of the final product, it is usually not apparent how much intensive work goes into bringing the newsletter together. Therefore, I warmly congratulate and thank Sophie Stanbrook, contributors, Council Members and the entire team, including not only Hub members but also the cheerful help of Brigid, Clare and Evie of the CLA Secretariat.

Please enjoy this edition. I look forward to many more.

Peter D. Maynard

Vice President for the CLA Americas Hub