Barbados will have a new Chief Justice from next Thursday, September 1, when 57 year old Barbadian legal scholar, Marston Gibson, takes the oath of office at Government House as this country’s principal judicial officer.
Mr. Gibson’s appointment was made by the Governor General, on the recommendation of the Prime Minister, after consultation with the Leader of the Opposition.
A Court Attorney (Judicial) Referee in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Nassau County, until recently, he brings a background of over 25 years of teaching and practising law, mainly in the US, to his new job.
The Chief Justice designate received his primary tuition at the St. Matthias School, and his secondary education at the then Boys’ Foundation School and Harrison College in Barbados, before pursuing legal studies at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the Hugh Wooding Law School, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. He is a Rhodes Scholar with law degrees from the UWI and Oxford University in England.
Mr. Gibson was also a lecturer at the UWI Law Faculties at the Cave Hill and St Augustine campuses, having taught many, now prominent, Caribbean public figures, including three who went on to become Prime Ministers.
He immigrated to the United States in 1987, and served in the New York State Supreme Courts on Long Island and Manhattan from 1989 until recently. He also taught law as a member of the Faculty of Continuing Education of Lehman College of the City University of New York.
For a number of years, Mr. Gibson held the position of President of the Council of Barbadian Organisations in New York (CBONY).
Over the years, he has held Bar Membership in several jurisdictions, including Barbados; Antigua and Barbuda; Trinidad and Tobago; the Federal, Eastern and Southern Districts of New York; and the United States Supreme Court. (BGIS)
