Author: Ross Bachiller

Thanks to the kind support of the Portfolio for Legal Affairs, three LL.B students at the Truman Bodden Law School, third year student Dena’e Alexander (centre right) and second year students Jenna Alpulche (right) and Curtis Bale (centre left), accompanied by Alexis Mavrikakis (left), Senior Lecturer, were able to attend the American Caribbean Law Initiative‘s 2024 Caribbean Law Clinic hosted by the Eugene Dupuch Law School in Nassau, The Bahamas.

Dena’e, Jenna and Curtis worked together with students from Florida International University, Stetson University (Florida), Norman Manley (Jamaica), Hugh Wooding (Trinidad and Tobago) and Eugene Dupuch (The Bahamas) Law Schools, to prepare arguments on complex legal questions of international and Bahamian law on unlawful migration, pollution of the marine environment and marital rape, which they then presented to a high-ranking panel from the Bahamian legal world, including a King’s Counsel, a UN rapporteur and the managing partner of the oldest law firm in The Bahamas.

All three students were commended for the clarity and high quality of their submissions and for their ability to deal with the challenging questioning that they faced from the panel. Dena’e said that, “this experience has been invaluable, allowing us to address significant real-world issues while enhancing our advocacy skills throughout the process”. Jenna added that she found it “an incredible opportunity to practise our advocacy skills and rewarding to meet some of the lawyers who are helping to shape the future of human rights in the Caribbean.”

The American Caribbean Law Initiative’s mission is to advance the common interest of its members, including TBLS, in the growth and development of the Caribbean basin by facilitating collaborative relationships and by strengthening its legal development and institutions.

TBLS Lecturer Laura Panades was invited to attend high-level training on avoidance of fraud in public procurement.

Public procurement is the area of the law that regulates the public sector purchases of goods and services from the private sector.

This was an intense 3-day training covering practical aspects on how to detect fraud in procurement.

The training took place on 29 to 31 October at the Hotel Indigo in Grand Cayman.

The event put together hundreds of procurement leaders across the entire civil service, to build expertise across Government.

The event was organised by the Cayman Islands Central Procurement Office, in partnership with the US Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

Panades is extremely grateful to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development for sponsoring the training, and the Portfolio of Legal Affairs, for having supported her attendance.

Laura Panades, Lecturer in Law and researcher on Caymanian public procurement, said:

“Avoidance of fraud in procurement is essential to keep building Cayman’s good reputation and outlook.

“This training has enabled me to continue to enhance my contributions with the aim of improving the quality of Government’s laws, policies and procedures through my research.”

FURTHER PRESS INFORMATION AVAILABLE FROM

Laura Panades

Laura.Panades@gov.ky 

TBLS Lecturer Laura Panades has published an update to her research in a leading peer-reviewed journal.

‘Cruising Around the Caribbean – Regional procurement developments’ is the title of the article.

The ‘European PPP and Procurement Law Review’, a leading, international, peer-reviewed journal, has published the article.

Panades is their appointed correspondent for the Caribbean region.

This research is important because it identifies Cayman’s progress in public procurement within the regional scene.

Public procurement is the area of the law that regulates the award of contracts from the public to the private sector.

This is important to maximise the added value of public purchases, as well as avoiding corruption and conflicts of interest.

In this article, Panades concludes that:

‘[T]he Caribbean is managing different problems to modern, Western economies by engaging with the same trends: e-procurement and sustainable procurement. In addition, many Caribbean countries and territories have used legal reform to formalise lessons learned via the practice of procurement.’

This research is important because of the common challenges across the Caribbean.

‘Caribbean countries and territories are highly exposed to common risks. First, their young public procurement frameworks, often less than a decade old, are still being tried and tested. Second, the remoteness and small size of many countries and territories means there are local development preferences, as well as a heightened risk of corruption and conflicts of interest.’

The article can be downloaded via https://doi.org/10.21552/epppl/2024/3/8

The author welcomes further enquiries and is more than welcome to provide electronic access to the full article.

FURTHER PRESS INFORMATION AVAILABLE FROM

Laura Panades

laura.panades@gov.ky