Candidate Brief May 2017

Crown Counsel (Civil and Safeguarding), Falkland Islands Government

Candidate Brief

Crown Counsel

(Civil and Safeguarding)

Contents

Welcome Letter

About the Falkland Islands Government

Structure of the Government

The Government Legal Services Directorate

LEGAL SERVICES

  • 1. Overview
  • 2. Key drivers
  • 3.1 General legal service
  • 3.2 Prosecution service
  • 3.3 Legislative service

The Court System

Laws of the Falkland Islands

the Post - JOB DESCRIPTION

The Package

Duration of appointment

Timetable for recruitment and selection process

How to Apply

  • Standard Pre-Employment Checks
  • References
  • Professional membership/Qualification Checks/Verification of Identity
  • Pre-Employment Health Assessment
  • Education for dependants

Appendix 1………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….21

Welcome Letter

Dear Candidate

Thank you for your interest in this post. The Falkland Islands is a hugely enjoyable place to work and live. Your time in the Islands will coincide with an exciting time of change as the Islands continue to develop access to natural and mineral resources, tourism and economic development.

The expertise and dedication of the legal team is a key element of meeting all these challenges and I am sure you will find these Islands a rewarding, career enhancing, and interesting place to work.

Wishing you the very best in your application.

Yours sincerely

Barry Rowland

Chief Executive

Falkland Islands Government

Thank you for your interest in the post of Crown Counsel for the Falkland Islands Government. This is an exciting opportunity in an unparalleled location! The Islands themselves have a land mass of around two thirds the size of Wales and are set in an area of outstanding natural beauty in the South Atlantic.

We are a small community with a very British way of life and we enjoy the benefits of good services, full employment, an incredible natural environment, unspoiled landscapes and a vibrant community lifestyle.

We expect you to take the time to understand, and to contribute to, our great culture and enjoy our way of life. In turn, we can promise you a once in a lifetime experience.

If you have sense of adventure, coupled, with a clear track record of successful service delivery in a legal role, and are not afraid to roll up your sleeves as part of a small team, then we would like to share the excitement of this post and these Islands with you.

About the Falkland Islands Government

The Falkland Islands are a UK Overseas Territory where executive authority remains vested in Her Majesty the Queen. This authority is exercised by HM’s Governor on her behalf. The Governor is advised by an Executive Council, comprising of three elected Members of the Legislature, the Chief Executive and the Financial Secretary. This forum is also attended by the Islands Attorney General and the Commander British Forces South Atlantic. Executive Council follows a UK Cabinet model, with meetings that are held in private (usually fortnightly).

The passage of legislation, votes for expenditure, and the annual budget including taxation levels are resolved by the Legislative Assembly. This comprises of eight elected Members (three from Camp[1] and five from Stanley[2]), the Chief Executive and the Financial Secretary. The Commander British Forces and Attorney General attend Legislative Assembly and are permitted to speak at it in matters related to their roles. The Assembly itself is presided over by a ‘Speaker’ who is elected by the Members of the Assembly. It currently meets monthly and the proceedings follow a UK Parliamentary model, except that the Chief Executive and Financial Secretary do not vote on legislation.

All eight elected Members are independent of political parties and each carry portfolios of services which cover a wide array of diverse activities including Treasury and Taxation, the Public Accounts Committee and Trade and Industry, all the way through to Health and Medical Services and child protection.

A wider network of ‘Committees’ that exist, (somewhere around 20) and they generally include at least two elected Members and a mix of civil servants and lay members. The Standing Finance Committee for example considers and monitors the budget and includes all eight members. Such committees now meet in public under rules mirroring the UK’s Local Government (Access to Information) Act, as does the Falkland Islands Safeguarding Children Board. The intention is to speed up decision making processes and strengthen transparency, accountability and scrutiny.

The above is all set against the background of the ‘The Islands Plan’. ThisPlan has been established to encapsulate the high level strategic aspirations agreed as being key to progress the sustainable, economic, social and political development of the Falkland Islands for the benefit of all residents. Elected Members’ top priorities under the Plan are currently:self-determination and good governance; economic development; population and workforce; transport and communications; education and training; Health and Social Care; Infrastructure; Safety and Security; Community, Culture and protecting the environment.

Structure of the Government

As can be seen from above, Government departments in the Islands mirror the entire range of not only UK civil service departments, but also those services which are often provided by local government and NGO’s elsewhere.

Directors of the departments meet regularly in a forum known as CMT (Corporate Management Team), chaired by the Chief Executive to consider corporate policy and strategy.

The business of Government itself is delivered by a core professional Public Service of circa 600permanent and temporary employees (at any one time,of which approximately 100 are officers on contract from outside the Falkland Islands i.e. they have been recruited from locations such as the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada).

Government Finances

The most recent operating expenditure and revenue budget estimates for the Government are detailed in the following graphs:

The Government Law and RegulationDirectorate

Introduction

As Attorney General it is my pleasure to be leading this Directorate. The Falkland Islands provides an extremely challenging environment for any lawyer. We are a small directorate right at the centre of Government. There is never a dull day and the range of work that we all do is extremely varied. Not only will you handle civil litigation, care proceedings and perform your own court advocacy, you will also work closely with Government client departments to advise on individual cases and to improve practice. You will also have the opportunity to become involved in a range of other areas of legal work.

We have recently updated our children law and regulations and our safeguarding procedures. We have supported the Falkland Islands Safeguarding Children Board in its pro-active response to the recommendations of two Child Safety Reviews. You will be able to influence and assist Government in keys aspects of policy formation with a view to further amendments tocivil and family lawreviews and practice relating to children, families and vulnerable people. You will be expected to guide and train in a multi-agency settingwithin Governmentdepartments which will also include the private and voluntary sectors.

Civil legal advice and litigation is an expanding area in the Falkland Islands and the increasing economic activity is leading to a demand for an individual to review the civil litigation in Governmentto improve efficiency and client satisfaction.

Being a lawyer in a British Overseas Territory makes you part of a very small international group of lawyers. What we do not only has direct impact on our local population, but it also reflects on the UK’s reputation for the standard of British justice and safeguarding amongst the overseas territories and around the world. The Falkland Islands are recognised as a major contributor to inter-territorial action to improve safeguarding standards and you will be regarded as a safeguarding specialist who can further contribute to this work.

This is an exciting job with a real opportunity to make a personal impact and lasting change. This is an important time for the Falkland Islands as the prospect of hydrocarbons development brings with it the possibility of population growth and new sectors of the economy.

We are a small team. You will have the ability to lead in your own areas of law, whilst contributing more widely. I hope you will be attracted to the role.

With best wishes,

Attorney General of the Falkland Islands

Attorney General of South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands

The Directorate has three services led by two service heads. These services are significant to the achievement of the Government’s ambitions. Through the Registry we provide a vital service to the community, local companies and co-operatives. We ensure elections are fair and the will of people can be freely expressed. In Regulation we ensure the people of the Falkland Islands are protected by regulating Civil Aviation, with an expanding remit into monopoly and general regulation. In Legal Services we support Government to turn policy into legislation; we direct and conduct public prosecutions, act for the Government in all legal proceedings and provide all legal advice. We also support development and delivery of government initiatives by being a sound source of legal advice.

Recognising the variety of all these roles, and the need to achieve best value with limited resources, it is important that we operate as a single unit. Our central administrative team facilitate this efficiency and joint working as well as delivering vital services as official publisher of the Falkland Islands Gazette, providing support to Government land administration, and providing public notarial services.

Our Structure:

* GSGSSI is the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

Our Mission

To serve the people of the Falkland Islands by:

  • being trusted advisors to the Governor and colleagues in the Falkland Islands Government to support the achievement of objectives set by Members of the Legislative Assembly in the Islands Plan
  • supporting policy objectives by drafting legislation which gives effect to those policy objectives in conformity with the Constitution and international obligations
  • prosecuting crime and bringing actions on behalf of the Crown robustly and impartially - bringing offenders to justice, supporting the reduction of crime and promoting public confidence in the rule of law
  • promoting good governance and decision making by the Falkland Islands Government
  • maintaining national and international confidence in electoral and registry practices
  • ensuring aviation safety, and fair and effective regulation of monopolies so as to avoid abuse of that position to the detriment of the people of the Falkland Islands.

Our Vision

To be the best Legal, Registry and Regulation service in any British Overseas Territory, given our size and available resources and to be recognised as such by ourselves, the people of the Falkland Islands and international spectators.

Our values and behaviours

In the delivery of everything we do on a day to day basis, everyone in the directorate is committed to the behavioural standards of:

  • Integrity – we will do the right thing especially when it is the hard thing
  • Courtesy – we will treat people courteously and will expect the same treatment from others
  • Respect – we will respect ourselves and show respect for other and their needs and views and will expect the same treatment from others
  • Professionalism – we will always seek to do things to the highest professional standard and seek to continually improve

These values will underpin the way our services our delivered.

LEGAL SERVICES

1. Overview

The Legal Services team provide the following services to the Governments of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands:-

  • legal and regulatory advice and representation (including advice on international law and convention obligations)
  • prosecutions
  • provision of a modern legislative framework

The Legal Services business plan commits to:-

  • provide the highest quality, cost effective, legal services that meet the needs of the Falkland Islands Government and the Governor, and command the confidence of the judiciary and the public which are deliverable with the resources available
  • deliver the prosecution service through the consistent, fair and independent review of cases, and through their fair and thorough presentation at court
  • achieve realistic targets set for the legislative drafting programme
  • review and modernise laws
  • provide these services with the highest standards of integrity
  • develop our staff for the benefit of their own careers and in the interests of FIG
  • operate using appropriate systems for workload management, client care, and electronic legal research.

2. Key drivers

We are central to the effective working of government and are involved in all levels of decision making. We attend Legislative Assembly, Executive Council, Corporate Management Team, and many other inter-departmental committees and working groups. Our advice has regard to the Constitution, the laws of the Falkland Islands and our international obligations.

Internally we are driven by the policy ambitions of the Members of the Legislative Assembly, by legal work essential to the continuing provision of services by the FIG and by our role in helping to promote good governance.

Externally we are driven by changing economic and social circumstances, the actions of the population of the Falkland Islands and the FIG’s response to current issues.

3. Services

The main services we provide are:-

3.1 General legal service

We aim to provide a high quality legal service to the Falkland Islands Government and, through that, to the community as a whole. The service is critical to the successful implementation of the policies that the Government seeks to deliver.

The service includes a role in the management of Government lands, with the legal services team currently administering the Government Lands Committee. In addition it covers all the contentious and non-contentious civil work of the department. There are two civil posts, the first is primarily dealing with non-contentious work, land, contractual and advice, the second deals with safeguarding and civil litigation.

3.2 Prosecution service

We review cases investigated by the Royal Falkland Islands Police Force, but also by other departments such as Customs and Immigration, Fisheries and Environmental Planning. We carefully analyse each case to determine whether the evidential and public interest tests are satisfied, suggest any further investigation if appropriate, advise on charges, and prosecute all cases in the Summary Court, Magistrate’s Court, and Supreme Court of the Falkland Islands.

3.3 Legislative service

We are responsible for the drafting of all laws (Bills and subsidiary legislation), although it may be outsourced to external drafters where appropriate (e.g. complex tax legislation may be more appropriately drafted externally). We manage the legislative drafting programme which is formulated each year based on MLAs’ priorities, as approved by Executive Council.

There is also a fundamental need to carry out work to ensure that we have a set of laws that are clear in their application, accurate and publicly available (the Revised Laws project). This is a huge task and will require significant resources to address. A Law Commissioner is now in place to drive forward a project which should result in the on-line publication of a revised consolidation of the laws of the Falkland Islands within approximately two years. Consideration will then need to be given to the continued revision of the laws.

The Court System

The court structure consists of the following legal tiers:

Summary Court

Magistrate’s Court

Supreme Court

Court of Appeal

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

The Summary Court consists of one or more Justices of the Peace (in practice, there are usually three). It has jurisdiction roughly equivalent to that of a Magistrate’s court in England.

The Magistrate’s Court is the most commonly used court in the Islands and is presided over by a resident Senior Magistrate. The Court has jurisdiction in criminal matters to deal with all offences except those which are triable only on indictment. However, indictable-only offences are much more limited in scope than is the case in England. There are no “either way offences”, and many offences, which in England would be triable only on indictment, are tried in the Islands in the Magistrate’s Court. The Senior Magistrate has sentencing powers similar to those of the English Crown Court.

The Supreme Court is presided over by the Chief Justice who is resident in the UK and visits the Islands when necessary. The Senior Magistrate also occasionally sits as an acting judge in this Court, which deals with indictable criminal offences and a variety of civil matters including matrimonial causes. The Supreme Court also has appellate jurisdiction in relation to the Summary Court and the Magistrate’s Court. Appeals from it lie to the Court of Appeal, and from there to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Laws of the Falkland Islands

‘Ordinances’ are made by the Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly and are our principal sources of law. Such Ordinances are supplemented by local orders and regulations. However, English Acts can also apply to the law of the Falkland Islands either directly or indirectly.

A consolidation of Falkland Islands laws can be found in the publication ‘The Revised Laws of the Falkland Islands’ (first published in 1993). The Revised Laws project is shortly to get underway to consolidate and republish the Laws of the Falkland Islands.

The Revised Laws themselves are divided into ‘Titles’, each of which contains three sections. The front page of each Title will indicate the date to which it is current (if there is no date, the Title will not have been updated since 1993).

The first Title holds the Falkland Islands laws (the Ordinances), and their subsidiary legislation which is included in full. The second Title outlines English laws which apply to the Falkland Islands (or “Imperial enactments” as they are known). The relevant subsidiary legislation is listed as well. Lastly the Title headed ‘Disapplied Imperial Enactments’ where English Acts which no longer apply to the Falkland Islands are listed.