PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – Former Premier, the late Norman Manley has been selected as one of ten Jamaican lawyers to receive the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Academy for Law’s Eminent Caribbean Jurist Award.

The Trinidad-based CCJ Academy said 48 “exceptional Caribbean lawyers” would be recognised as ‘Legendary Caribbean Legal Practitioners.’

“Among the awardees are giants of the legal profession representing historical, transitional, and contemporary epochs of law and development in the region,” it said, adding that this will be the third instalment of the Academy’s Eminent Caribbean Jurist series.

The Academy, which serves as the educational arm of the CCJ, created the Eminent Caribbean Jurist Awards Series in 2019 as a means of recognising and honouring the contribution of Caribbean jurists to the law and societal development.

It said that the “legal legends” were selected by the Regional Selection and Advisory Committee, which first met on September 27 last year and that nominations were submitted from bar associations, judiciaries, journalists, the Council for Legal Education and its law schools, other law schools in the region, professional associations, and former Eminent Caribbean Jurists.

It said 115 nominations were received from which 48 were selected having regard to regional and temporal distribution.

J.A.G Smith, Vivian O. Blake KC, David Coore KC, Justice Dennis Morrison KC, Justice Hilary Phillips KC, Frank Phipps KC, Ian Ramsay KC, Dr Lloyd Barnett OJ and Dr Kenneth Rattray KC were also named as recipients of the award.

Also on the list are former Barbados prime ministers Sir Grantley Adams, Sir Harold “Bree” St John, former Trinidad and Tobago Governor General, Sir Ellis Clarke, the first CCJ president Michael De La Bastide and Sir Hugh Wooding, after whom the University of the West Indies (UWI) law school in Trinidad is named.

The list also includes Sir Lionel Alfred Luckhoo, Sir Fenton Ramsahoye, Professor J.O.F. Haynes of Guyana, Sir W.H. Courtenay of Belize, Sir Lee Moore of St Kitts-Nevis and Sir Vincent Floissac of St Lucia.