Sir Anthony Smellie KCMG KC
Practice Overview
A former Chief Justice of the Cayman Islands, Sir Anthony was admitted to practice as an attorney-at-law in Jamaica in 1977. He accepted an appointment as Principal Crown Counsel for the Cayman Islands where he relocated in 1983. He was appointed Solicitor-General in 1987 and acted as Attorney General for the Cayman Islands on several occasions until he accepted appointment as a Judge of the Grand Court in February 1993. Sir Anthony was appointed as Chief Justice of the Cayman Islands in June 1998. While Chief Justice, he also served as the Mutual Legal Assistance Authority under the Cayman – United States MLAT.
In August 1991 Sir Anthony was appointed as Queen’s Counsel. He was appointed to the Court of Appeal of Bermuda in March 2018. In December 2023, Sir Anthony was appointed to the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal.
While Chief Justice, Sir Anthony served as the lead judge of the Financial Services Division of the Grand Court, in which capacity he tried many foreign arbitral awards recognition and enforcement cases, and complex commercial, trust and insolvency cases. He is a member of the International Insolvency Institute.
In his capacity as a law officer of the Crown, Judge, and Chief Justice, Sir Anthony represented the Cayman Islands at many international conferences, speaking on topics as varied as Judicial Leadership, Youth Justice, Restorative Justice, Judicial Independence, Money Laundering control, Trusts, Human Rights, Corporate Insolvency and Re-organisation and the Forfeiture and Recovery of the Proceeds of Corruption. Additionally, he established the judge-led mediation program for the Family and Civil Divisions of the Courts.
He is an alumnus of the International Development Law Institute, Rome (now the IDLO) and of the London Business School (Executive Education Programme).
Sir Anthony is a Honorary Bencher, Grays Inn, London, England; Honorary Fellow Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (University of London); Patron: Commonwealth Law Journal, Oxford University Press; Member – Insolvency Practitioners International (Insol).
He was nominated as a member of the International Hague Network of Judges for the Convention of the Protection of Children and served from July 2011 to June 2013; and nominated by the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners as a judicial member in April 2013.
Sir Anthony will focus his work on international arbitration and mediation, and will be closely involved in the ongoing work of 3VB’s International Advisory and Dispute Resolution Unit (IADRU), assisting 3VB to meet its corporate social responsibility objectives in the international arena.
