‘Twas A Demanding Legal Year

Remarks by Mark A Fulford

President of the Turks and Caicos Islands Bar Association

May it please Your Ladyship.

I have the honour, on behalf of the Turks and Caicos Islands Bar Association, to rise in support of the Motion for the Opening of the Legal Year.

Mark A Fulford

The opening of the legal year invites us not only to mark the passage of time, but to reflect on the stewardship of justice in our jurisdiction. It is a moment for accountability, continuity, and renewed commitment to the rule of law that underpins our constitutional democracy.

On behalf of the Bar Association, I extend sincere appreciation to Your Ladyship for your leadership of the Judiciary throughout 2025 and to all other judges and judicial officers and their support teams who all contribute so much.

It has been a demanding year, marked by heavy caseloads, complex matters, and heightened public scrutiny, yet the courts have continued to function with discipline, independence, and institutional steadiness. The Bar recognises and values that leadership. Ultimately, it is public confidence in the courts at home that gives meaning to every other development we celebrate.

Members of the profession sometimes joke that we measure the year not by months, but by court lists and bundles and by that measure, 2025 was undoubtedly a full year. It is therefore fitting that we pause today to acknowledge the work done and the responsibility carried.

I also acknowledge the Attorney General and the Office of the Attorney General for their stewardship during the year, navigating an evolving legislative and policy environment while maintaining fidelity to constitutional principles. Likewise, the Bar recognises the Director of Public Prosecutions and her office for the weighty responsibility of prosecutorial decision-making, particularly in a period of heightened public concern about crime and safety. That role demands not only legal skills, but judgment and restraint, and the Bar acknowledges the seriousness with which it continues to be discharged.

Your Ladyship, 2025 has also been a significant year for the standing of the Turks and Caicos Islands legal profession beyond our shores.

Throughout the year, the Bar Association deliberately strengthened relationships with counterpart Bars across jurisdictions, including formal engagements throughout Africa and the Caribbean—reinforcing professional ties, shared standards, and mutual respect. These relationships matter because the law does not operate in isolation, and even small jurisdictions benefit greatly when their legal institutions are connected, visible, and respected internationally.

In that same spirit, the Bar was honoured in 2025 to represent the Turks and Caicos Islands at the International Bar Association, the world’s largest gathering of legal professionals. This marked the first occasion on which a sitting President of the Turks and Caicos Islands Bar Association addressed that global forum. It signalled that this jurisdiction—though small in size—is confident in its institutions, its lawyers, and its contribution to the development of the law, not for prestige, but to ensure that the standards we apply locally are informed by, and accountable to, the highest professional traditions.

Crucially, Your Ladyship, the Judiciary itself has played a leading role in placing the Turks and Caicos Islands at the forefront of legal innovation. The Bar formally recognises the courts for becoming the first in the world to adopt a Practice Direction governing the responsible use of generative artificial intelligence in court proceedings. This step was not about technology for its own sake, but about safeguarding fairness, transparency, and integrity in an era of rapid change.

 It is a development that has drawn international respect, and one for which the Judiciary deserves commendation. At the same time, the Bar welcomes the clear signal that innovation must always remain subordinate to due process, open justice, and judicial oversight.

Your Ladyship, we practise law in a time when public confidence in institutions is tested not by a single controversy, but by the pace and complexity of change itself. Expectations of the justice system are high and often urgent. The enduring role of the law, however, remains constant, to provide fairness, due process, and reasoned decision-making, even when patience is strained. For the ordinary litigant, delay or inaccessibility is not an abstract concern, but a lived experience, and the profession remains mindful of that reality.

In this context, the Bar sees its role as a bridge, between public expectation and legal process, between urgency and fairness, between change and continuity. Our duty is owed first to the court, always to our clients, and ultimately to the rule of law. That duty requires competence, civility, preparation, sound judgment and accountability, including the discipline of our own members where standards fall short.

The Bar has also continued its constructive engagement with the Attorney General on matters of professional regulation, contributing to ongoing discussions on modernising the legislative framework governing the legal profession, always with full respect for constitutional process and institutional roles.

As we look ahead to 2026, the Bar does so with a commitment to steadiness rather than haste, refinement rather than division, and cooperation rather than conflict. Strong justice systems are built not only on decisions, but on conduct, consistent, principled, and measured. That discipline is especially vital in a small constitutional democracy such as ours, where institutions are close, visible, and deeply felt.

Your Ladyship, the Bar stands ready to continue working constructively with the Judiciary, the Attorney General, the Director of Public Prosecutions and other stakeholders in the year ahead.

We do so in a spirit of service, even when that service is difficult, demanding, or unpopular, confident in the strength of our institutions and the integrity of our shared mission.

For these reasons, and with confidence in the path ahead, the Turks and Caicos Islands Bar Association is pleased to support the Motion for the Opening of the Legal Year.

May the year ahead be one of wisdom, balance, and continued confidence in the administration of justice.

Before I close, a small disclaimer. AI was not used in the generation of this speech, and no one was hurt during its preparation.

May it please the Court.