The Judicial and Legal Service Commission (JLSC) has recommended to the governor general the appointment of five new Supreme Court judges: Gregory Moss; Simone Fitzcharles; Carla Card-Stubbs; Franklyn Williams, KC; and Cynthia Vera Hope Strachan.

Sir Ian Winder, who chairs the commission, said in a statement that in October of 2022, the JLSC conducted an open recruitment exercise seeking to fill the vacancies created by the retirement of Sr. Justice Estelle Gray-Evans, Justice Ruth Bowe-Darville and former Chief Justice Sir Brian Moree, KC.

The exercise also contemplated the expected vacancies which will arise as a result of the pending retirement of Justice G. Dianne Stewart and Sr. Justice Indra Charles, Sir Ian stated, adding that the advertisement process drew considerable interest, both locally and abroad.

Moss has been practicing for over 30 years, principally, on Grand Bahama.

He is a graduate of the University of the West Indies (UWI) and Norman Manley Law School.

Moss has had partnerships with two of the leading law firms in The Bahamas prior to establishing his own law firm at Moss & Associates.

He has acted as a stipendiary and circuit magistrate on New Providence from 1994 to 1995 and has considerable experience in civil and commercial litigation. Moss is expected to assume office on May 1, 2023. It is intended to assign him to the northern region of the court.

Moss was previously the member of Parliament for Marco City, who decided against seeking re-election in 2017. He was previously leader of the United Democratic Party.

Fitzcharles has almost 30 years of legal practice. She is also a graduate of UWI and Sir Hugh Wooding Law School. And is a certified commercial mediator.

Fitzcharles has considerable experience in civil and commercial litigation having served as a litigation partner in a leading law firm for 20 years.

Fitzcharles wrote the Bahamian chapter in the text, "Asset Tracing and Recovery Review".

A substantive vice president of the Industrial Tribunal, Fitzcharles is presently acting as a justice of the Supreme Court.

She is expected to assume office, substantively, on February 1, 2023. It is intended to assign her to the Commercial Division and the Common Law & Equity Division of the Court.

Card-Stubbs also has almost 30 years of legal practice.

She is a graduate of UWI and Norman Manley Law School and holds an LLM in International Business from University of Liverpool.

Card-Stubbs is presently acting as a justice of the Supreme Court.

Prior to that appointment, she had a distinguished career in academia with the Council of Legal Education.

She has served as a deputy registrar in Jamaica, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the British Virgin Islands (BVI), as a senior Crown counsel with the Attorney General's Office in the BVI and as a magistrate in the BVI.

Card-Stubbs is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. She is expected to assume office, substantively, on February 1, 2023.

It is intended to assign her to the Public Law Division and the Common Law & Equity Division of the court.

Williams has also been practicing for over 30 years, primarily at the public bar.

He is also a graduate of UWI and Norman Manley Law School and holds an LLM from University of Durham.

Presently the deputy director of public prosecutions, he is a former deputy chief magistrate.

Williams had considerable experience at the public bar, in both the criminal and civil divisions, resulting in him being the first silk in The Bahamas to be appointed from the public bar.

Williams has acted as director of public prosecutions.

He is expected to assume office on February 1, 2023. It is intended to assign him to the Criminal Division of the Court.

Strachan has been practicing for over 30 years.

A graduate of University of London, she was called to the English Bar by the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple.

She has considerable experience in family law as well as civil and criminal litigation and is currently the principal of CV Hope Strachan & Co.

She has acted as a stipendiary and circuit magistrate on numerous occasions between 1992 and 2007.

Strachan is expected to assume office on March 1, 2023. It is intended to assign her to the Family Division of the court.

Strachan served as a minister in the last Christie Cabinet and is a former MP for Sea Breeze.

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