Freeport law practices are doing a tiny fragment of the work they once had, say local practitioners, with any minor uptick in the Bahamian economy overall failing to register in the city, which "continues on a downward slide", Guardian Business has been told.
One attorney described a reduction of real estate-related law work from 60 percent of his firm's activity to two, while another pointed to a downsizing of employees from 57 to 13 from a decade ago.
"Freeport law firms are on air right now," said Terence Gape, partner with Dupuch and Turnquest.
The figures demonstrate from the perspective of those engaged in professional services how Freeport and Grand Bahama at large has continued its precipitous decline, and the massive feed through effect of activity in the tourism sector - or lack thereof - on other sectors of the local economy, from lower-skilled employees to professional service providers.
Gape noted that real estate transactions continue to remain "close to zero" in Grand Bahama and if the Sunwing/Blue Diamond re-opening of the 500-room Reef Village hotel by year-end 2013 does not pan out he sees little hope of a turnaround.
"Freeport will be dust if that does not happen," said Gape, adding that he sensed there were a "lot of moving parts" involved in the Sunwing/Blue Diamond revitalization of the Reef Village hotel project successfully coming to fruition.
"I think it's no secret that the real estate sales in Freeport are near to zero, and there's been no change. While the rest of The Bahamas has been experiencing an uptick since 2011, Freeport continues on a downward slide. If you consider that conveyancing, mortgage work and real estate work in general were generally 60 percent of any law firm practice, and that's now down to about two percent, it's a very dire situation and I see no end in sight for Freeport. We are the forgotten islands," said Gape.
He added that he had reduced his law firm's staff from 11 to seven, and now survives primarily on international business-related work.
Fred Smith Q.C., partner with Callenders and Co. in Freeport, said his office has gradually been shrinking for as much as 11 years.
"We had the biggest law firm, but we have had to close down our banking, real estate and corporate departments. All we do is a little bit of litigation. Instead of growing, we've been shrinking, and these were all good paying jobs for professional people. They then employed maids, housing, rent. It's a knock on effect for every employee," he added.
Noting Freeport's "fragile and artificial economy", a reference to its unusual status as a free zone under the auspices of the Grand Bahama Port Authority, Smith said it is important that the government does not "tinker" with it, to its detriment - a swipe at recent customs fees imposed on businesses in the area, who have collectively complained that the changes are making a bad business environment even more challenging.
Many businesses are now holding out hope that the re-opening of the Reef Village hotel, and the announced new direct airlift to service the resort out of six cities in Canada by Sunwing starting January 2014, will be the start of a turn-around in the economy.
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