Barrister
Layne v The Attorney General of Grenada [2019] UKPC 11, [2019] All ER (D) 107 (Mar)
In 1986, the appellant was convicted of the murders of ten persons, including the then Prime Minister of Grenada, following a coup on the island. He unsuccessfully appealed against the refusal of the Supreme Court of Grenada and the West Indies Associated States High Court of Justice, as upheld by the Court of Appeal of the Easter Caribbean Supreme Court, to admit him to the Bar of Grenada, under s 17(1)(a) of the Legal Profession Act 2011. The Privy Council held that, while the fact that the appellant was currently a man of good standing in the community was a necessary requirement for the good character condition for admission to the Bar of Grenada to be satisfied, it was not, in itself, enough. Public confidence in the profession had also to be considered. Accordingly, the court held that, the Supreme Court judge had not erred in her assessment that there was sufficient risk that public confidence in the legal profession would be damaged by acceding to the appellant’s
