Speaker details

Biography

The Honourable Mr. Justice Adrian Dudley Saunders is a native of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. He began his legal career as a barrister and solicitor in private practice in his home country before being appointed as a Judge of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) High Court Bench in 1996. On May 1st 2003, Mr. Justice Saunders was appointed to the ECSC’s Court of Appeal and he served as acting Chief Justice between 2004 and 2005. While at the ECSC, Mr. Justice Saunders developed a passion for and was deeply involved in various judicial reform efforts. These included the introduction of court-connected mediation in the Eastern Caribbean and the development of that Court’s first Judicial Code of Ethics. He also served as Chairman of the ECSC’s Judicial Education Institute from 2001 to 2004. His work in judicial education continued with The Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute (CJEI). He earned a Fellowship of the CJEI in 1998 and, for several years was the Course Director of The CJEI’s Intensive Study Programme. He is also one of the Institute’s Vice Presidents. In 2005, Mr. Justice Saunders was among the first cohort of judges to be appointed to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). Mr. Justice Saunders has contributed greatly to regional judicial outreach and judicial education efforts. He is a founding member of the Caribbean Association of Judicial Officers (CAJO) and served as the organization’s Chairman from its inception in 2009 to 2019. During his tenure as Chairman, in collaboration with UN Women, he played a leading role in developing and promoting the adoption of Gender Sensitive Protocols for Judicial Officers for various Caribbean judiciaries. Due to his active engagement in advancing judicial integrity, Mr. Justice Saunders was appointed to the Advisory Board of the Global Judicial Integrity Network by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) Global Programme for the Implementation of the Doha Declaration. Mr. Justice Saunders’ interests also extend to the area of court administration where he has adopted an active role in the CCJ’s public education and strategy development initiatives. He led the development of the Court’s first Strategic Plan in 2012 and chaired the project to develop the CCJ’s Strategic Plan for 2019-2024. Mr. Justice Saunders has written many legal articles and publications. He is a Consulting Editor of The Caribbean Civil Court Practice and a co-author of Fundamentals of Caribbean Constitutional Law. He also lectured part time at the UWI, St Augustine Faculty of Law on Constitutional Law. At its 29th Intersessional Meeting in Port au Prince, Haiti, in February 2018, the Caribbean Community Heads of Government agreed to the recommendation of the Regional and Judicial Legal Services Commission (RJLSC) that Justice Saunders be appointed President of the Caribbean Court of Justice. He assumed the office of President on July 4, 2018.