Sir Joaquim C. Gonsalves-Sabola has been a Consultant to the firm since 2002. He has had a long career in the law spanning forty six years, beginning with his call to the Bar of England in 1958 and followed by many years of forensic advocacy in Guyana as a private legal practitioner, then successively as the holder of the following public offices with the Government of Guyana: Crown Counsel, Senior Crown Counsel, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Acting Director of Public Prosecutions and Solicitor General. As holder of those offices Sir Joaquim had vast exposure for several years to civil law and criminal law and appeals over a broad spectrum of public law including constitutional law. Sir Joaquim was appointed Senior Counsel in Guyana (indicated by the description S.C. – which is the equivalent of the English designation Q.C. – Queen’s Counsel).

In 1970 Sir Joaquim was appointed a Supreme Court Judge and later a Court of Appeal Judge in Guyana. He retired from the Guyana judiciary in 1984. Later that year he emigrated to the Bahamas on his appointment to the Bench of the Bahamas as a Justice of the Supreme Court. From 1989 to 1995 he held the office of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Bahamas and, on his retirement therefrom, made the transition to the Bahamas Court of Appeal as President of that Court until he retired in 1999.

As Supreme Court Justice, Chief Justice and President of the Court of Appeal for a cumulative period of just over 15 years, Sir Joaquim adjudicated in many leading cases, at first instance and on appeal and is widely regarded as one of the leading experts in Bahamian law over the broad range of civil, criminal and constitutional law.

As Chief Justice he was for six years a member of the Council of Legal Education of the Caribbean, the governing body of the professional Law Schools of the region. He was the founder-editor of the Law Reports of the Bahamas and for upwards of twelve years he has been an editor of the West Indian Reports.

In 1995 Sir Joaquim was knighted by Queen Elizabeth and was later elected a Master of the Bench of Gray’s Inn, London.

Sir Joaquim brought much legal experience and acumen to the firm when he became its Consultant.