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Government is losing its best attorney - and that's because Denys Barrow is leaving to take up an appointment as a judge on the Caribbean Court of Justice.  Barrow confirmed to us today that terms have been finalized and he will join the court in June of this year.  Barrow becomes one of only 7 CCJ judges - and replaces a judge who leaves at the end of May.  

He says he will continue to work privately until he leaves, and the appointment will have no effect on cases he's worked on which are either before the CCJ, or those which will end up there.  He says that at the CCJ he would have “absolutely nothing to doâ€￾ with any matter in which he was previously involved.  And, he adds, he would not expect to sit on any cases involving the Government of Belize.  It’s worthy of mention because in 2011, Barrow resigned from the Belize Court of Appeal after only 18 months - one year after his brother judges found that there was the appearance of bias in a case.  At the time it was clear that because his brother is Belize’s Prime Minister, Barrow would have difficulty sitting on weighty matters involving the Government.

But in this case, Barrow applied to and was appointed by the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission - which is a non-political body.  There was no recommendation from any state or politician.  

He will be a tenured judge of the CCJ - who can serve until his retirement.  Barrow will have to relocate to the seat of the court tin Port of Spain, Trinidad.  He had previously served on the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court - where Godfrey Smith is now a judge.