Attorney Greg Moss, MP for Marco City and leader of the United Democratic Party (UDP), has called it "a red herring" to suggest that anything more than present practice needs to be done to accomplish the aims identified by supporters of liberalization of the legal profession in The Bahamas.
He called the Financial Services Group's (FSG) poll "a cleverly disguised repackaging of the very 'globalization' argument that was just rejected by the UK in the Brexit vote". The FSG has asked the Bar Council to pay a $6,000 cost for the poll.
Moss, in a communication with Bar Association President Elsworth Johnson and other members of the Bar, joined other outspoken members of the association who refuse to support the use of the Bar's funds to pay for an FSG-supported survey of BBA members on the issue of liberalization of the Bar and other matters.
The issue of liberalizing the Bar has become a standard talking point for the financial services minister and her immediate predecessor. It is one on which Prime Minister Perry Christie, senior Queen's Counsel Brian Moree and others have voiced their support.
Moss pointed out that there is no impediment to foreign lawyers practicing before the Bahamas Bar on a case-by-case basis. He cited section 11 of the Legal Profession Act, which states, "Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this act, the Bar Council, upon being satisfied that the interests of justice so require, may determine that any person qualified in accordance with the first schedule shall be specially admitted to practice for the purpose of conducting particular proceedings specified in such determination, and shall give notice of its determination to the chief justice."
Said Moss, "It is a red herring to suggest that foreign lawyers need to be admitted to the Bahamas Bar otherwise than under "specially admitted" approval of the Bar Council in order to provide support to the financial services sector. That is a logical and factual fallacy.
"The question, therefore, arises, as to what is the real objective of this proposed poll," he said.
Moss referred to question 33 of the proposed questionnaire as "instructive".
Question 33 reads, "Do you think that there should be practice areas which non-Bahamians who are admitted to the Bar ought not to be disqualified from participating in?"

Intent
According to Moss, a "careful" reading of the survey shows that the intent is "clearly to produce a BBA-based and BBA-funded finding that members of The Bahamas Bar are not suitably qualified to provide legal professional services at an internationally available standard and thereby to justify the inevitable conclusion that for The Bahamas to refuse or otherwise fail to allow foreign attorneys to practice at our Bar would be for The Bahamas to eschew "best practices" in legal professional services.
"In other words, this is simply a cleverly disguised repackaging of the very globalization argument that was just rejected by the UK in the Brexit vote. To go down this road under the guise of creating an inventory of the availability of legal professional expertise in the financial services sector would be to open the door to a blacklisting of The Bahamas' financial services sector on the purported basis that The Bahamas is against 'best practices' and on the actual basis that it will not open its legal professional services to global exploitation by international firms," Moss said.

Best practices
Moss contended that the survey is, in fact, not about the availability of legal expertise to support the financial services sector.
"It is about conducting an inventory of the academic legal qualifications and international affiliations of the members of the Bahamas Bar Association to support the argument for globalization of our legal profession under the pretext of supporting 'best practices'.
"The global drive to reshape our country is not confined to matters of personal preferences. It is being extended to all other areas as the so called 'on shore' jurisdictions attempt to find global opportunities for their citizens in the face of their dwindling on shore economic and social landscapes," he said.

Authorization
Moss also queried whether the Financial Services Group is a committee of the BBA, and whether -- if it is -- it was authorized to form the working group as a subcommittee of itself.
"No doubt, any grouping of attorneys in The Bahamas has a right to constitute themselves into whatever organization that they wish. But to lend the authority and standing of the BBA to this effort is, I think, misguided and dangerous.
"Should the BBA wish to conduct its own survey on any issue affecting its membership, it no doubt has the right to do so. But the findings of such a survey would be the property of the BBA. To support, or even implicitly endorse this exercise will be to support and endorse its findings. With a questionnaire that predetermines the outcome of that exercise by skewing the definition of 'qualifications' as being solely to be determined by recent academic qualifications and international affiliations, the inevitability of adverse findings concerning the membership of the BBA is clear and the effect upon The Bahamas as a whole of the implied endorsement by the BBA of those adverse findings would be fatal," Moss argued.
In its initial letter to the Bar Council and in a statement issued this week, the FSG said, "FSG is a committee of The Bahamas Bar Association (BBA) which was formed in August, 2015 to advance the interests of members who practice in or seek to practice in the financial services sector. As a committee of the BBA, our role is to assist the Bar Council, within our purview, in performing its prescribed functions under the Legal Profession Act, for the overall betterment of the members of the association."

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