Trinidad National Appointed A Judge At The Caribbean Court Of Justice

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission (RJLSC) Friday announced the appointment of Justice Maureen Rajnauth-Lee as a judge to the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

“Judges appointed to the CCJ are evaluated on the basis of wide-ranging criteria that include experience, high moral character, intellectual and analytical ability, sound judgment, integrity and an understanding of people and society,” the RJLSC said in a statement.

It said she was selected from applicants from the Caribbean, North America and Eastern Europe.

The Trinidad-born Justice Rajnauth-Lee is a Court of Appeal Judge in her country and will assume her new post in April.

A First Class Honours graduate of the University of the West Indies (UWI), as well as the Hugh Wooding Law School, she was admitted to the practice of law in Trinidad and Tobago in 1980.

The former State Counsel in the Solicitor General’s Department in Trinidad and Tobago was, for many years, a member and then Vice-Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee of the Law Association.

She was appointed a judge in 2001 and was elevated to the Court of Appeal a year later.

Justice Rajnauth-Lee is a member of the International Association of Women Judges. She was a member of the Steering Committee and now serves as Vice-President of the Caribbean Association of Women Judges. She is Vice-President of the Trinidad and Tobago Association of Women Judges. She is also a member of the Caribbean Association of Judicial Officers. Madame Justice Rajnauth-Lee is a certified Mediator and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

The CCJ was established in 2001 to replace the London-based Privy Council and has both an Original and Appellate jurisdiction.

While most of the 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries are signatories to the Original Jurisdiction, only Barbados, Guyana and Belize have signed on to the Appellate Jurisdiction.

The CCJ also serves as an international tribunal, interpreting the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas that governs the regional integration movement.