Avia Ustanny, Outlook Writer

Hugh Small QC is back home in Jamaica after spending the last five and a half years as a judge - a Justice of the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

Well known in the decade of the '80s and '90s as a Cabinet minister and parliamentarian, the judge has hung up his gavel to be with his grandchildren in Jamaica and also contribute to the development of a new Institute of Arbitrators and a Commercial Arbitration Centre.

A new Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators of Britain, the legal luminary is hammering out a new role for himself, which does not spell 'retirement'.

He is also writing his family history - a project which he says will be more than a look at his personal roots, and will in fact be a reflection on the struggles of the emerging black middle class in the last century.

Justice Small, who was admitted to the Bars of England and Wales and Jamaica in 1963 and appointed Queen's Counsel in 1985 and also served as a parliamentarian in the People's National Party government, refuses to discuss politics.

He has stamped an embargo on this period of his life which included holding the Cabinet portfolios for Finance and Planning, Industry and Commerce, Mining and Energy, Education and Youth, Sports and Community Development in the Government of Jamaica from 1976-1980 and from 1989-1993.

Justice Small told Outlook in a recent interview: "I made a deliberate decision in 2000 that I would behave as if I were a judge. I have tried to be faithful to that commitment. I do not want to be perceived as a politician."

Hugh Small grew up in the home of a judge.

His father was Justice Ronald Hugh Small, a judge of the Supreme Court who was appointed from colonial days, after work as a resident magistrate as early as 1943. He was "the first unpardonably and unmistakably black man to set foot in the Supreme Court," his son says.

In his time, the Justice "was known for the way he spoke, the very way he used English, his public conduct and his standards of integrity. He also did a lot of work in the church."

Justice Ronald Small worked for many years on public enquiries including the famous Orange Lane fire. He was honoured in late life with the Order of Jamaica and died in 2005 at the age of 98.

Hugh Small's mother was Annie Louise Kerr, a school teacher and homemaker - a woman meticulous and elegant in her use of the English language. She taught at schools, including Vaz Preparatory, whose founder and principal Hazel Vaz was her first cousin.

Annie Kerr's father was an inspector of schools (one of the first Jamaicans to be so appointed) and President of the Jamaica Union of Teachers. His mother, Hugh Small says, was affected by the limited opportunities for further education available to women of her generation, but was a fine example of those who made the best of their situation.

His parents provided him with four siblings and a principle-filled upbringing.

Justice Ronald Small was deeply disappointed when his son entered politics, although in later years he was to offer him his support.

In time he would need it. For son Hugh, maybe the best and worst of times was the year 1992.

In that year, he replaced P.J. Patterson at the Ministry of Finance after the latter had to resign in the wake of the Shell-waiver scandal. But, when former Prime Minister Michael Manley announced his retirement in 1992, Mr. Patterson declared his candidacy and trounced the triumvirate of Small, Dr. D.K. Duncan and Portia Simpson Miller (now Prime Minister), who had offered themselves as leaders.

Hugh Small resigned as a government minister on August 13, 1993 but it was not until June 8, 1994, that he resigned from his seat as Member of Parliament.

At this time, political scientist the late Carl Stone wrote about Small that he was no "Mr. Nice Guy".

Before his departure, Hugh Small also oversaw the introduction of a bill in Parliament which contained 142 amendments to the Banking Act, affecting the operations of the financial sector. He also attempted to introduce a Competition Act, he said.

The context was the explosion of the industry which saw increased competition among players and, allegedly, many years of inaccurate reporting on the affairs of the majority of the banks.

Meltdown

Soon after Small's retirement from Parliament, the financial sector went into meltdown and - once again engaged in the practice of law - he became involved as representing attorney over several trials in which the banks were made to pay.

"I am not a natural politician. I am not amenable to the popular side of politics," Hugh Small tells Outlook.

Where the law was concerned however, he was a more than natural fit. Hugh Small was also engaged in several human rights cases, including that of (street person) Michael Gayle.

Increasingly, he said, he felt the urge to do judicial work. In the late '90s, he decided that the time was right to go on the bench. The relevant authorities, however, apparently disagreed. In 2000 when he applied to go on the Court of Appeal Bench, there was no response to his application.

He had, by then, several decades of experience practising as an advocate in Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands and before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

In law, Hugh Small had practised exclusively as an advocate and undertook appearances at trials and in appeals in all areas of litigation including banking and administrative law, and prosecuted and defended in criminal cases.

The lawyer accepted the offer of the Government of the Bahamas to be a judge of the Supreme Court of that territory, specialising in commercial matters for which his background in politics and public service had made him particularly suited.

Ten weeks before his 65th birthday on July 5 this year, the judge retired and came back home, although the Bahamas, he said, had been a wonderful experience.

In the judicial services there, judges are not required to take notes by long- hand and frequently enjoy the pleasure of seeing case matters transcribed in real time. The remuneration of judges in the territory is also much better than it is in Jamaica.

Judges also have their own clerks and personal control over their calendars, so that they are able to sit and hear matters on a continuous basis.

Justice Small says, "As I approached my 65th birthday, I thought about what I really wanted. I had the option of extending my time there but what I really wanted was to come back home."

He was back in Jamaica by April and again applied for Judicial placement, with no positive results. Ever practical, he is now focused on consultation work and the development of an Institute of Arbitrators which should speed up litigation in commercial and other matters and reduce legal costs for those affected.

To get this done, Justice Small is currently pulling together a coalition of both private and public interests as well as international funding agencies. He is also championing the revision of the Arbitration Act, which, passed in 1900, is in need of urgent overhaul.

Consultant

His experience as a consultant is wide and informs the new process. Previous consultancies include advising the Government of Jamaica on a project funded by the World Bank on the constitutional and legal implications of establishing Executive Agencies to undertake management functions in the public service. He has also led team of experts engaged in the Land Acquisition Study for the North Coastal Highway Improvement.

While his new project gels, he is enjoying time spent with the children of his two daughters - attorney-at-law Karla Small-Dwyer and architect Kiva Small-Alberga. His grandchildren are Zoe, Christian, Liam and Kristoff.

Hugh Small, a divorcee, enjoys photography as a hobby and gardening. He is also having a fine time, he says, refurbishing a new home acquired in Stony Hill. When he can find time away from his new arbitration thrust, he also writes - about family history.

He is perhaps taking the advice of father Justice Ronald Small who said, his son claims, that if he were to write his memoirs, readers would discover that "their political heroes have feet of clay."

His father, he says, was a man of outstanding integrity. He tries to copy that in his public life.