36 lawyers at Bar table

What a sight it was here yesterday — 36 lawyers facing what looked like a line-up of a bowling attack of nine judges. The lawyers alone filled three rows and Trinidad and Tobago was well represented. The occasion was day one of the petition of three governments — Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Jamaica — asking that the Privy Council hear new arguments in a bid to have the mandatory death sentence back on the law books. It was a record as the 36 lawyers sat at the Bar table in the House of Lords. Another eight occupied seats in the public gallery. The appeal was moved from the traditional Privy Council building at Whitehall to the more spacious facility at the Parliament building.

With the historic nine judges sitting on this appeal, one expected a larger court room. But the Common Room, also known as the Moses Room is not much bigger than the Privy Council court room. One thing was certain — there was more space for lawyers. At the Privy Council, lawyers are normally cramped. On the appellant’s side, Douglas Mendes SC sat in the front row as he is due to make his submissions today. Gregory Delzin and Stuart Young occupied the second row, while Frank Solomon SC, Desmond Allum SC and Rajiv Persad sat in the third row. On the respondents’ side, Deputy Solicitor General Carol Hernandez sat in the second row with acting Chief State Solicitor Christope Grant in the third row.

Trinidad and Tobago’s High Commissioner to London Glenda Morean-Phillips sat on a reserved seat in the front row for the public. Accompanying her was Evans King, former Chief Protocol Officer in Trinidad, now attached to the High Commission. Getting into the Parliament building was easier than expected. With England on a heightened terrorist alert and following last Saturday’s drama when two brothers climbed the tower to the Parliament building, one expected more security. Hundreds of people lined up outside waiting their turn for a tour to the building. Policemen armed with SLRs patrolled the perimeter of the Parliament building, while vehicles entering the compound were subjected to thorough searches. No one escaped being searched as tension mounts in London following the recent terrorist attack in Madrid, Spain.