Attorney General
Incumbent Dawn Smith since 1 October 2020
Attorney General's Chambers
Style	The Honourable
Inaugural holder	Lionel W. Barker
Formation	Virgin Islands Constitution Order, 1967 (Statutory)
Website	https://bvi.gov.vg/departments/attorney-general-chambers

The Attorney General of the British Virgin Islands is the principal legal adviser to the Government of the British Virgin Islands.^[1] Under the Constitution of the British Virgin Islands the Attorney General sits ex officio in both the House of Assembly of the British Virgin Islands^[2] and in the Cabinet of the British Virgin Islands,^[3] but is not permitted to vote in either. The Attorney General also sits on the Committee for the Prerogative of Mercy^[4] and on the National Security Council.^[5]

The Attorney General is supported by two senior law officers: the Solicitor General (in relation to civil matters) and the Director of Public Prosecutions (in relation to criminal matters). When appearing in court, by convention the Attorney General sits one row in from the row reserved for King's Counsel.

As of 1 October 2020^[update], the Attorney General is Dawn Smith.^[6]^[7]

History

The office traces its origins back to the reintroduction of democracy in the British Virgin Islands pursuant to the 1950 general election. At that time the Legislative Council (as the House of Assembly was then known) had to look to the Attorney General of the Leeward Islands for support. This was regarded as unsatisfactory and following the 1954 general election Herman Besson was appointed to the title of Legal Assistant to the Legislative Council. In 1959 the title of the office was changed to Crown Attorney, and subsequent to the introduction of Ministerial Government following the 1967 general election the office was titled Attorney General.^[8]

Qualifications

Since 2007 in order to be qualified to be appointed as Attorney General a person must be eligible to be admitted as a lawyer in the British Virgin Islands, and must have not less than 10 years experience practising law.^[9] However, this was not always the case, and various past Attorneys General were either not admitted in the British Virgin Islands and in some cases were not even eligible to be admitted in the British Virgin Islands.^[10]

By law only a Belonger to the Virgin Islands may be appointed to the office of Attorney General unless, in the opinion of the Judicial and Legal Services Commission, there is no such person who is suitably qualified and able and willing to be so appointed.^[11] In practice, almost all the Attorneys General appointed since 2007 have been non-Belongers, and only two Attorneys General in the history of the British Virgin Islands was a belonger at the time they were appointed (Dancia Penn, and the current Attorney General, Dawn Smith).^[12]

List of attorneys general of the British Virgin Islands

A total of 27 persons have been appointed to the office (including as Crown Attorney or Legal Assistant prior to 1967, and persons who were appointed as acting Attorney General), of whom 20 have been men and seven have been women. Three have been Queen's Counsel (although two were appointed to the rank during office), and the remaining 24 have been from the Outer bar or solicitors during their time as Attorney General.^[13] The longest serving Attorney General to date has been Cherno Jallow, who served just under eight years (including time as acting Attorney General).

For attorneys general prior to 1954 see Attorney General of the Leeward Islands

**Attorneys general of the British Virgin Islands**^[14]
Office holder	Title of office	Dates
Herman A. Besson	Legal Assistant	1954–1958
Oliver M. Browne	Crown Attorney	1958–1959
George A. Redhead	Crown Attorney	1959–1962
John A.B. Barwick, QC	Crown Attorney	1962–1964
Leo I. Austin	Crown Attorney	1964
J.S. Archibald	Crown Attorney	1964 - February 1965
Lionel W. Barker	Crown Attorney	1965 - March 1967
Lionel W. Barker	Attorney General	March 1967 - 1968
William L. MacIntyre	Attorney General (acting)	1968-1970
Edgar A.C. Hewlett	Attorney General (acting)	1970
Nolan Jacobs	Attorney General (acting)	1970–1972
Paula F. Beaubrun	Attorney General (acting)	17 July 1972 – 30 June 1973
Paula F. Beaubrun	Attorney General	1 July 1973 – 25 July 1977
Clare I. Roberts	Attorney General (acting)	1977
Jack Smith Hughes, OBE	Attorney General (acting)	1977
Michael J. Bradley	Attorney General (acting)	1977–1978
Velma I. Hamilton-Gayle	Attorney General (acting)	28 November 1978 – 10 October 1979
Sandra M.H. DeSilva	Attorney General	1979–1982
Lewis Hunte	Attorney General	1982–1986
Karl S. Atterbury	Attorney General	1986–1990
Donald A.B. Trotman	Attorney General	1990–1992
Dancia Penn, QC, OBE	Attorney General	1 October 1992 - 1999
Davidson K. Baptiste	Attorney General (acting)	1993
Cherno Jallow, QC	Attorney General (acting)	1 November 1999 – 21 February 2000
Cherno Jallow, QC	Attorney General	22 February 2000 - 2007
Kathleen Ayensu	Attorney General	24 June 2007 – 24 June 2010
Baba Aziz	Attorney General (acting)	24 June 2010 – 6 November 2011
Dr Christopher Malcom^[15]	Attorney General	7 November 2011 – 31 December 2014
Baba Aziz^[16]	Attorney General	1 January 2015 – 30 September 2020
Dawn Smith^[6]	Attorney General	1 October 2020 – Present
Mr Arden Warner also acted as Attorney General (acting) on various occasions for short terms.

Footnotes

^ Virgin Islands Constitution Order 2007, article 58(2)
^ Virgin Islands Constitution Order 2007, section 63(1)
^ Virgin Islands Constitution Order 2007, article 47(1)
^ Virgin Islands Constitution Order 2007, article 44(1)
^ Virgin Islands Constitution Order 2007, article 57(1)(d)
^ ^a ^b "Dawn Smith Takes Over As Attorney General". Virgin Islands Platinum News. 2 October 2020. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
^ "Dawn Smith named new attorney general". BVI Beacon. 28 May 2020.
^ "BVI election and information results 1950–2011" (PDF). BVI Deputy Governor's Office. pp. 195–199. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 April 2014.
^ Virgin Islands Constitution Order 2007, article 95(5)
^ The longest ever serving Attorney General was Cherno Jallow QC, who was only admitted as a lawyer in Gambia, and was thereby ineligible for admission to practice as a lawyer in the British Virgin Islands.
^ Virgin Islands Constitution Order 2007, article 95(6)
^ Several Attorneys General settled in the British Virgin Islands and were naturalised after leaving office.
^ Two former Attorneys General were subsequently elevated to Queen's Counsel later in their careers: Joseph Archibald, QC and Lewis Hunte, QC.
^ "BVI election and information results 1950–2011" (PDF). BVI Deputy Governor's Office. pp. 185–186. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 April 2014.
^ "Jamaican lawyer appointed attorney general overseas". The Gleaner (Jamaica). 20 November 2011.
^ "Baba Aziz appointed attorney general". BVI News. Archived from the original on 19 January 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2015.

Attorney General of the Caribbean

British West Indies
Danish West Indies
Dutch Caribbean
- Caribbean Netherlands
- Netherlands Antilles
French West Indies
West Indies Federation

West
Indies

Antilles

Greater
Antilles

Cayman Islands
Cuba
Jamaica
Navassa Island
Puerto Rico

Hispaniola	Dominican Republic Haiti

Lesser
Antilles

Leeward
Islands

Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda
Guadeloupe
- La Désirade
- Les Saintes
- Marie-Galante
Montserrat
Saba^{^*}
Saint Barthélemy
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Sint Eustatius^{^*}

Saint Martin^{^}	Collectivity of Saint Martin Sint Maarten
Virgin Islands	British Virgin Islands U.S. Virgin Islands

Southern
Caribbean

Leeward
Antilles

Insular Venezuela
- Federal Dependencies
- Nueva Esparta

ABC islands	Aruba Bonaire^* Curaçao

Windward
Islands

Dominica
Grenada
- Carriacou and Petite Martinique
Martinique
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Barbados^†
Trinidad and Tobago^†

Lucayan
Archipelago

Bahamas

Turks and Caicos Islands

Caribbean
Sea

Aves Island
San Andrés and Providencia
- Bajo Nuevo Bank^~
- Serranilla Bank^~

Caribbean
continental
zone

Quintana Roo
- Cozumel

Central America	Belize Honduras Bay Islands Izabal Limón Corn Islands North Caribbean Coast South Caribbean Coast Panama
South America	Colombian Caribbean Venezuelan Caribbean

Wider
groupings
may include:

Bermuda^#
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Guatemala
Nicaragua

Yucatán Peninsula	Campeche Petén Yucatán
The Guianas	Amapá French Guiana Venezuelan Guayana Guyana Guayana Esequiba^ǂ Tigri Area^ǂ Suriname

N.B.: Territories in italics are parts of transregional sovereign states or non-sovereign dependencies.

^{^}These three form the SSS islands that with the ABC islands comprise the Dutch Caribbean, of which ^*the BES islands are not direct Kingdom constituents but subsumed with the country of the Netherlands.

^†Physiographically, these continental islands are not part of the volcanic Windward Islands arc, although sometimes grouped with them culturally and politically.

^ǂDisputed territories administered by Guyana. ^~Disputed territories administered by Colombia.

^#Bermuda is an isolated North Atlantic oceanic island, physiographically not part of the Lucayan Archipelago, Antilles, Caribbean Sea nor North American continental nor South American continental islands. It is grouped with the Northern American region, but occasionally also with the Caribbean region culturally.

v t e Attorney General of the Americas
United States and Canada Latin America and the Caribbean
Latin America Hispanic North America Northern Caribbean Central America South America
Sovereign states	Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Bahamas Barbados Belize Bolivia Brazil Canada Chile Colombia Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Guyana Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama Paraguay Peru Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Suriname Trinidad and Tobago United States Uruguay Venezuela
Dependencies and other territories	Anguilla Aruba Bermuda Bonaire British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Curaçao Falkland Islands French Guiana Greenland Guadeloupe Martinique Montserrat Puerto Rico Saba Saint Barthélemy Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Sint Eustatius Sint Maarten South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Turks and Caicos Islands U.S. Virgin Islands

Attorneys General of the British Empire and the United Kingdom

Legend: Current territory; Former territory; * Now a Commonwealth realm; Now a member of the Commonwealth of Nations

Europe
1175-1921 Ireland 1708–1757 Menorca Since 1713 Gibraltar 1763–1782 Menorca 1798–1802 Menorca 1800–1813 Malta (Protectorate) 1813–1964 Malta (Colony) 1807–1890 Heligoland 1809–1864 Ionian Islands 1878–1960 Cyprus 1921–1937 Irish Free State

North America

17th century and before		18th century	19th and 20th century
1579 New Albion 1583–1907 Newfoundland 1605–1979 *Saint Lucia 1607–1776 Virginia Since 1619 Bermuda 1620–1691 Plymouth Colony 1623–1883 Saint Kitts *(Saint Kitts & Nevis) 1624–1966 *Barbados 1625–1650 Saint Croix 1627–1979 *Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1628–1883 Nevis *(Saint Kitts & Nevis) 1629–1691 Massachusetts Bay Colony 1632–1776 Maryland since 1632 Montserrat 1632–1860 Antigua *(Antigua & Barbuda) 1636–1776 Connecticut 1636–1776 Rhode Island 1637–1662 New Haven Colony	1643–1860 Bay Islands Since 1650 Anguilla 1655–1850 Mosquito Coast (protectorate) 1655–1962 *Jamaica 1663–1712 Carolina 1664–1776 New York 1665–1674 and 1702–1776 New Jersey Since 1666 British Virgin Islands Since 1670 Cayman Islands 1670–1973 *Bahamas 1670–1870 Rupert's Land 1671–1816 Leeward Islands 1674–1702 East Jersey 1674–1702 West Jersey 1680–1776 New Hampshire 1681–1776 Pennsylvania 1686–1689 Dominion of New England 1691–1776 Massachusetts	1701–1776 Delaware 1712–1776 North Carolina 1712–1776 South Carolina 1713–1867 Nova Scotia 1733–1776 Georgia 1762–1974 *Grenada 1763–1978 Dominica 1763–1873 Prince Edward Island 1763–1791 Quebec 1763–1783 East Florida 1763–1783 West Florida 1784–1867 New Brunswick 1791–1841 Lower Canada 1791–1841 Upper Canada Since 1799 Turks and Caicos Islands	1818–1846 Columbia District/Oregon Country¹ 1833–1960 Windward Islands 1833–1960 Leeward Islands 1841–1867 Province of Canada 1849–1866 Vancouver Island 1853–1863 Colony of the Queen Charlotte Islands 1858–1866 British Columbia 1859–1870 North-Western Territory 1860–1981 *British Antigua and Barbuda 1862–1863 Stikine Territory 1866–1871 Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1867–1931 *Dominion of Canada² 1871–1964 British Honduras (*Belize) 1882–1983 *Saint Kitts and Nevis 1889–1962 Trinidad and Tobago 1907–1949 Dominion of Newfoundland³ 1958–1962 West Indies Federation

1. Occupied jointly with the United States.
2. In 1931, Canada and other British dominions obtained self-government through the Statute of Westminster. See Canada's name.
3. Gave up self-rule in 1934, but remained a de jure Dominion until it joined Canada in 1949.

South America
1651–1667 Willoughbyland (Suriname) 1670–1688 Saint Andrew and Providence Islands⁴ 1831–1966 British Guiana (Guyana) Since 1833 Falkland Islands⁵ Since 1908 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands⁵
4. Now the San Andrés y Providencia Department of Colombia. 5. Occupied by Argentina during the Falklands War of April–June 1982.

Africa

17th and 18th centuries	19th century		20th century
Since 1658 Saint Helena¹⁴ 1792–1961 Sierra Leone 1795–1803 Cape Colony	Since 1815 Ascension Island¹⁴ Since 1816 Tristan da Cunha¹⁴ 1806–1910 Cape Colony 1807–1808 Madeira 1810–1968 Mauritius 1816–1965 The Gambia 1856–1910 Natal 1868–1966 Basutoland (Lesotho) 1874–1957 Gold Coast (Ghana) 1882–1922 Egypt	1884–1966 Bechuanaland (Botswana) 1884–1960 British Somaliland 1887–1897 Zululand 1890–1962 Uganda 1890–1963 Zanzibar (Tanzania) 1891–1964 Nyasaland (Malawi) 1891–1907 British Central Africa Protectorate 1893–1968 Swaziland 1895–1920 East Africa Protectorate 1899–1956 Anglo-Egyptian Sudan	1900–1914 Northern Nigeria 1900–1914 Southern Nigeria 1900–1910 Orange River Colony 1900–1910 Transvaal Colony 1906–1954 Nigeria Colony 1910–1931 South Africa 1914–1954 Nigeria Colony and Protectorate 1915–1931 South West Africa (Namibia) 1919–1960 Cameroons (Cameroon)⁶ 1920–1963 Kenya 1922–1961 Tanganyika (Tanzania)⁶ 1923–1965 Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)⁷ 1924–1964 Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) 1954–1960 Nigeria 1979–1980 Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)⁷

6. League of Nations mandate.
7. Self-governing Southern Rhodesia unilaterally declared independence in 1965 (as Rhodesia) and continued as an unrecognised state until the 1979 Lancaster House Agreement. After recognised independence in 1980, Zimbabwe was a member of the Commonwealth until it withdrew in 2003.

Asia

17th and 18th century	19th century		20th century
1652–1950 Madras Presidency 1668-1947 Bombay Presidency 1685–1824 Bencoolen (Sumatra) 1702–1705 Pulo Condore 1757–1947 Bengal Presidency (West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh) 1762–1764 Manila and Cavite 1786–1946 Penang (Malaysia) 1795–1948 Ceylon (Sri Lanka) 1796–1965 Maldives	1812–1824 Banka (Sumatra) and Billiton (Sumatra) 1819–1826 British Malaya (West Malaysia and Singapore) 1826–1946 Straits Settlements (Malaysia and Singapore) 1839–1967 Colony of Aden 1839–1842 Afghanistan 1841–1997 Hong Kong 1841–1946 Kingdom of Sarawak (Malaysia) 1848–1946 Labuan (Malaysia) 1858–1947 British India (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Burma) 1874–1963 British Borneo (East Malaysia and Brunei)	1879–1919 Afghanistan (protectorate) 1882–1963 British North Borneo (Malaysia) 1885–1946 Unfederated Malay States 1888–1984 Sultanate of Brunei 1891–1971 Muscat and Oman protectorate 1892–1971 Trucial States 1895–1946 Federated Malay States 1898–1930 Weihai Garrison 1878–1960 Cyprus	1907–1949 Bhutan (protectorate) 1918–1961 Kuwait protectorate 1920–1932 Iraq⁸ 1921–1946 Transjordan⁸ 1923–1948 Palestine⁸ 1945–1946 South Vietnam 1946–1963 North Borneo (Malaysia) 1946–1963 Sarawak (Malaysia) 1946–1963 Singapore 1946–1948 Malayan Union 1948–1957 Federation of Malaya (Malaysia) Since 1960 Akrotiri and Dhekelia (before as part of Cyprus) Since 1965 British Indian Ocean Territory (before as part of Mauritius and the Seychelles)

⁸ League of Nations mandate. Iraq's mandate was not enacted and replaced by the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty

Oceania

18th and 19th centuries		20th century
1788–1901 New South Wales 1803–1901 Van Diemen's Land/Tasmania 1807–1863 Auckland Islands⁹ 1824–1980 New Hebrides (Vanuatu) 1824–1901 Queensland 1829–1901 Swan River Colony/Western Australia 1836–1901 South Australia since 1838 Pitcairn Islands	1841–1907 Colony of New Zealand 1851–1901 Victoria 1874–1970 Fiji¹⁰ 1877–1976 British Western Pacific Territories 1884–1949 Territory of Papua 1888–1901 Cook Islands⁹ 1889–1948 Union Islands (Tokelau)⁹ 1892–1979 Gilbert and Ellice Islands¹¹ 1893–1978 British Solomon Islands¹²	1900–1970 Tonga (protected state) 1900–1974 Niue⁹ 1901–1942 *Commonwealth of Australia 1907–1953 *Dominion of New Zealand 1919–1942 Nauru 1945–1968 Nauru 1919–1949 Territory of New Guinea 1949–1975 Territory of Papua and New Guinea¹³

9. Now part of the *Realm of New Zealand.
10. Suspended member.
11. Now Kiribati and *Tuvalu.
12. Now the *Solomon Islands.
13. Now *Papua New Guinea.

Antarctica and South Atlantic
Since 1658 Saint Helena¹⁴ Since 1815 Ascension Island¹⁴ Since 1816 Tristan da Cunha¹⁴ Since 1908 British Antarctic Territory¹⁵ 1841–1933 Australian Antarctic Territory (transferred to the Commonwealth of Australia) 1841–1947 Ross Dependency (transferred to the Realm of New Zealand)
14. Since 2009 part of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; Ascension Island (1922–) and Tristan da Cunha (1938–) were previously dependencies of Saint Helena. 15. Both claimed in 1908; territories formed in 1962 (British Antarctic Territory) and 1985 (South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands).

History

Qualifications

List of attorneys general of the British Virgin Islands

See also

Footnotes