A number of Advocates and employed lawyers have built up their expertise in a career based in Guernsey but the majority have gained experience in countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and other offshore financial centres before coming here. This experience, and the connections made while working in law firms overseas, are invaluable assets when promoting Guernsey as a place to do business. We work closely with the Law Officers, the States of Guernsey and the GFSC in order to ensure that the island's laws and regulations are fit for purpose and serve the evolving needs of the business community, whilst being robust enough to protect and maintain the reputation of the island as a safe, well-regulated, reliable and efficient place in which to do business. The sector proactively suggests amendments to laws in order to enable the island to capitalise on business opportunities, and participates fully in the legislative process to ensure that proposed legislation has been scrutinised with a critical eye from a practitioner's perspective before it is finalised.
What does the future of Guernsey’s commercial legal sector look like? It is of vital importance that we ensure that the legal and regulatory framework of the jurisdiction is conducive to attracting commercial and financial services business for the long term. We will continue to raise any legal or regulatory issues which are identified with the relevant industry bodies. The sector will continue to provide a practitioners' perspective for legislative proposals and government policy. The success of the sector and the wider finance industry depends on being able to attract and retain the best legal talent with overseas experience (including those originally from Guernsey) in order to maintain a strong independent legal sector focussed on promoting Guernsey.
The Guernsey Commercial Bar Association (CBA), is a sub-committee of the Guernsey Bar and was established as the representative body for part of the legal sector which is focused on commercial business in Guernsey. The Guernsey Commercial Bar Association (CBA) Key Contact Tony Lane, CBA Chair +44 (0)1481 732086 tony.lane@careyolsen.com www.guernseybar.com