Prime Minister Perry Christie says lawyers in the country need to develop a higher degree of specialisation, noting that being a generalist is no longer going to cut it, at least not for the new generation of lawyers coming on stream.

The prime minister was speaking during the official grand opening of the Bahamas Bar Association’s (BBA) Administrative Complex on Mackey Street and Claire Road Friday.

“Just as general practitioners in medicine have become an endangered species because patients are demanding specialists in the various branches of medicine, so, too, lawyers must meet popular demand for specialists within the various areas of law,” he said.

“It is important, therefore, for lawyers to develop specialised legal expertise. Also, it is equally important that the public have a clear idea of just who the specialists are and who the leaders in the respective fields of law are. To better assist the public in this regard, I am pleased to make it known that very soon additional Queen’s Counsel – or QCs – will be appointed.”

The prime minister explained that the primary aim in making these new appointments will be to ensure that the general public and international investors alike have a wider and more balanced choice of the leading counsel available to them in the various disciplines of law.

“Indeed, I would venture to say that unless these additional appointments are made, those lawyers who are already QCs will have an unfair commercial advantage over those other lawyers who are also acknowledged leaders of the profession in their various areas of specialisation but who were overlooked when appointments were made in the past,” he said.

“Thus, the QCs who are about to be appointed will cover not only various areas of commercial law but other under-represented areas at the inner bar, including family law, constitutional and administrative law and criminal law. The result should be an inner bar that is more representative of the leadership of the profession within the various areas of specialisation at the bar.”

During the grand opening, most senior members of the bar, William McPherson Christie and Godfrey K. Kelly, CMG unveiled the Cornerstone.

Former Governor General Sir Orville Turnquest, GCMG, QC and Chief Justice Sir Michael Barnett presented the official naming of the Council Room after Sir Kendal G. L. Isaacs, who was the first president of the BBA.

The new Bar Association’s complex, which also includes a restaurant, is now called the Basil and Audrey North Building named after the previous owners of the house. Audrey North was Sir Kendal’s sister.

Also present at the opening were Dr. Gail Saunders and Mr. E. B. Terry North, the children of Audrey and Basil.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Allyson Maynard-Gibson and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Works and Urban Development Philip Davis were also present at the ceremony.