David Ritch

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David Ritch, OBE, JP, LL.B is a prominent Cayman Islands attorney who has done private and governmental work. He is Chairman of the Work Permit Board and Chairman of the Immigration Review Team. In 2003, he resigned the chairmanship of the Cayman Islands Immigration Board to protest what he saw as an excessive number of individuals bypassing immigration processes, receiving immigrant status due to "extraordinary circumstances". In 2003-2004, as chairman of the Caribbean Utilities Company (CUC) he was involved in an extremely public dispute with the Cayman government over an unpopular rate increase. He has represented the Cayman Islands at the European Union Court of First Instance, where he successfully argued that the court could not force the Caymans to comply with the EU Tax Savings Directive.

He received his LLB from the University of the West Indies with honours, and was admitted to the bar in 1976 from the Inner Temple, Inns of Court, London, England; in England as Barrister-at-Law and Cayman Islands as Attorney-at-Law.

Contents 1 Early life & legal career 2 Governmental appointments 3 The immigration dispute 4 Later years 5 Honours

[edit] Early life & legal career

He served as Clerk of Courts, Crown Counsel, and then Senior Crown Counsel until 1979 when he became an associate at private law firm Hunter & Hunter. In 1983, he founded a private firm with step-father W. Warren Conolly, OBE, JP, a former lawyer, East End MLA, and Minister for Tourism. The firm, Ritch & Conolly, became and receded from the position of second-largest Caymanian-owned firm on the island.

[edit] Governmental appointments

Ritch has served on many on statutory government boards, including:

• 1987-89: Chairman, Planning Appeals Tribunal
• 1987-97: Member, Cayman Islands Currency Board
• 1988-91: Chairman, Labour Law Appeals Tribunal
• 1989-90: Chairman, Caymanian Protection Board
• 1992-03: Chairman, Port Authority of the Cayman Islands
• 2000-02: Chairman, Trade & Business Licensing Board
• 2002-03: Chairman, Immigration Board
• 2005-present: Chairman, Work Permit Board
• National Advisory Council

[edit] The immigration dispute

Many immigration policies changed during Ritch's chairmanship of the Cayman Islands Immigration Board. There is a legal provision allowing the Cabinet to grant immigrant status to those it deems appropriate under "extraordinary circumstances". The Cabinet thus granted status to over 3,000 persons. Ritch argued that the Government should have increased the quota for the Immigration Board, allowing them to process those applicants with ordinary scrutiny, sparking an angry response from the Leader of Government Business, who believed that the board is subsidiary to the Government, and should therefore keep quiet. Ritch subsequently resigned, and left the Board to become the Chairman of Caribbean Utilities Company.

[edit] Later years

CUC engaged in a public dispute with the Government regarding an unpopular rate increase. In the summer of 2004 Ritch and the Minister for Utilities signed a Heads-of-Agreement signalling an end to the dispute.

Ritch was later contracted by the Government to consult about the EU Tax Savings Directive. The Cayman Islands Government had been arguing that this directive would harm the financial centre that Cayman has become, and sent a team including Ritch to the EU Court of First Instance to argue Cayman's case. Their argument was successful and the Court agreed that the EU could not force the directive on Cayman.

[edit] Honours

He is also a member of the Cayman Islands Law Society (Past President) and the Private Sector Consultative Committee (as the representative of the Law Society,) and was previously a member of the Cayman Bar Association.

Ritch was made a Justice of the Peace and earned the Quincentennial Lifetime Achievement Award in the field of Law from the Government in 2003, in celebration of the Cayman Islands 500th year. He is listed on the Quincentennial Wall of Honour in Heroes' Square, as a person who has contributed significantly to the Cayman Islands. David was made as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2003 for services to the Government and the community.