Magistrates

Current

Honourable Kirsty-Ann Gunn, LLB (Hons)

Place of Birth: United Kingdom

QUALIFICATIONS
  • LLB (Hons) University of Westminster, London, United Kingdom in 1997
  • Postgraduate Diploma – Inns of Court School of Law, London, United Kingdom in 1998
BAR, JUDICIAL EXPERIENCE
  • Admitted to the Bar in England and Wales (Lincoln’s Inn) in 1998
  • Admitted to the Bar in Bermuda in 2010
  • Practiced in the United Kingdom in the areas of criminal and civil law 1999- 2006
  • Crown Counsel with the Cayman Islands Government Legal Department 2006 – 2010
  • Crown Counsel (Specialist) with the Department of Public Prosecutions in Bermuda 2010-2012
  • Magistrate of the Summary Court of the Cayman Islands 2012
  • Acting Judge of the Grand Court 2017
Mag. Hernandez
QUALIFICATIONS
  • LLB (HONS) (U.W.I.),
  • LLM (Queen Mary’s College, London)
  • CLE, post professional qualification Norman Manley Law School, Commonwealth Caribbean
BAR, JUDICIAL EXPERIENCE
  • 1990-1992 – Legal Counsel with the Cayman Islands Attorney General’s Chambers. Criminal experience in all divisions of the Courts including the Court of Appeal. Also advised on various legislation.
  • 1992 – 2007 was instrumental in building a boutique litigation firm to a substantial practice and with a very strong corporate and commercial division. She specialized in corporate and commercial law and with a small family practice.
  • 2007 – 2014 – sole practitioner, with institutional and private clients, with main practice areas being banking, Family and Labour related matters.
  • February 2014 – appointed as an Acting Magistrate in the Summary Court.
  • December 2018 – appointed as a permanent Magistrate.

Qualifications

  • University of Liverpool ( Truman Bodden Law School) 1997-2000 LLB (Hons) (First Class)
  • Dalhousie University 1992-1996 Hons ( upper second class) BA Political Science & Philosophy

BAR & Judicial Experience

  • Called to the Bar of England and Wales by the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn in 2001.
  • Completed her pupillage at the leading commercial set of Essex Court Chambers and Furnival Chambers in London gaining exposure to high quality commercial matters including shipping, reinsurance and entertainment law;
  • Practiced as a Barrister in London with significant experience in the prosecution of financial and commercial crime in areas including, but not limited to, tax fraud, money laundering, organised duty and excise evasion, VAT frauds, mortgage fraud and confiscation as a specialist prosecutor with the Inland Revenue (as it then was), Revenue and Customs Prosecution Office and Fraud Prosecution Service.
  • 2009, returned to Cayman Islands to practice. Experienced in in planning law; administrative law; immigration law; complex commercial litigation; insolvency law; enforcement of foreign judgments; and asset recovery.
  • Appointed as an Acting Magistrate of the Summary Court in February 2014.
  • Appointed as Magistrate December 2018.
Hon. Vanessa Allard

QUALIFICATIONS

  • L.L.B ( Hons.) University of the West Indies
  • L.E.C Norman Manley Law School
  • M.B.A University of Liverpool

BAR, JUDICIAL EXPERIENCE

  •  Admitted to the Bar, Kingston, Jamaica, 1999
  • Associate Attorney, Vaccianna & Whitingham, Attorneys, Kingston, Jamaica 1999-2002
  • Partner, Vaccianna and Whittingham, Attorneys, Kingston, Jamaica 2003-2005
  • Admitted to the Bar, Cayman Islands, 2002
  • Associate Attorney, Brooks & Brooks, Attorneys, Grand Cayman 2002-2003, and 2005-2021
  • Magistrate Allard has considerable experience in this jurisdiction, appearing in the civil and criminal courts of these islands, as well as being a senior member of the Family Law Bar, and has been a part of the Cayman legal community since 2002. She also served as a member of the FIFA Ethics Committee for four years from 2013-2017. She has served the Cayman community in various volunteer roles in various civic groups over the years, since her arrival from her native Trinidad and Tobago. Magistrate Allard sits in the criminal, civil, traffic, specialist domestic violence, family and maintenance courts of the Summary Court.
  • Appointed as an Acting Magistrate of the Summary Court in June 2020
  • Appointed as Magistrate of the Summary Court in July 2021