Kirk Brian Anderson (born 20 April 1967) is a Caribbean jurist. A dual national of

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

and

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

, he has experience both before the bench and behind it, in Belize as

Director of Public Prosecutions The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is the office or official charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several criminal jurisdictions around the world. The title is used mainly in jurisdictions that are or have been members o ...

and in Jamaica as a justice of the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

, and in both countries as a lawyer in private practice.

Career

Anderson came to Belize in the early 1990s, where he started out as a

Crown Counsel Crown counsel are lawyers, generally in Common Law jurisdictions, who provide advice to the government and acts as prosecutors in cases. In various jurisdictions their title can vary and they could also be known as the Queen's Advocate, King's Advo ...

. He later spent some years in private practice at the law firm of

Barrow Barrow may refer to: Places England * Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria ** Borough of Barrow-in-Furness, local authority encompassing the wider area ** Barrow and Furness (UK Parliament constituency) * Barrow, Cheshire * Barrow, Gloucestershire * Barro ...

and Williams. As a high-profile criminal attorney, Anderson often butted heads with the police, but nevertheless he was named Belize's Director of Public Prosecutions in March 2002, succeeding

Rory Field Rory is a given name of Gaelic origin. It is an anglicisation of the ga, Ruairí/''Ruaidhrí'' and gd, Ruairidh and is common to the Irish, Highland Scots and their diasporas. for the given name "Rory". The meaning of the name is "red king", ...

. However, as his term went on, he began to clash increasingly with the United Democratic Party. In September 2004, he wrote to Financial Intelligence Unit Director Keith Arnold to recommend that

money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...

charges be filed against UDP head Dean Barrow, his old boss at Barrow and Williams. In October 2006, angered by the police's handling of a murder case against Chayben Abou-Nehra, and with the Leader of the Opposition and the Bar Association of Belize aligned against him, Anderson agreed to resign. He departed from Belize at the end of that year. He had forgotten to pay his final tax bill of BZ$28,000, and so he was detained at the airport and missed his initially-scheduled flight. In Jamaica, Anderson was named a partner at Dunn & Cox Attorneys-at-Law in

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...

in 2007, specialising in civil and commercial litigation and

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

and

entertainment law Entertainment law, also referred to as media law, is legal services provided to the entertainment industry. These services in entertainment law overlap with intellectual property law. Intellectual property has many moving parts that include tradema ...

. He also became a first-year associate course tutor at his alma mater, the

Norman Manley Law School The Norman Manley Law School is a law school in Jamaica. Building and location The Norman Manley Law School is located on the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies, yet it is a distinct and separate institution. Its building, design ...

. In August 2011, he was named a judge of the Supreme Court of Jamaica, fulfilling one of his lifelong dreams.

Personal life

Anderson was born in

. He did his

LL.B. Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

at the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in th ...

and his

Legal Education Certificate In the Commonwealth Caribbean, a Legal Education Certificate is a professional certification awarded to a person who has completed a course of study and training at a law school established by the Council of Legal Education. It was created by Articl ...

. He was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

of Belize in 1993 and of Jamaica in 2007.

Works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Kirk 1967 births Living people Belizean people of Jamaican descent Directors of Public Prosecutions of Belize 20th-century Jamaican lawyers People from Kingston, Jamaica People associated with the Norman Manley Law School 21st-century Jamaican judges