The country's Justice Minister and Attorney General, Senator Dorothy Lightbourne, and Chief Justice Zaila McCalla head the star-studded group of legal luminaries that will invade western Jamaica this weekend.

The two will address delegates at the Cornwall Bar and Jamaican Bar Association seminar at the Lady Hamilton Grand Palladium Hotel in Lucea, Hanover, this Saturday and Sunday. Montego Bay attorney Clayton Morgan has tagged the seminar the "largest of its kind in recent memory, because of the topics to be discussed and the calibre of the presenters".

Morgan, chairman of the committee organising the event, said Senator Lightbourne, who is scheduled to open the conference, will deliver a paper on the Law Reform Programme currently under way at the Ministry of Justice.

"She will be followed by Chief Justice, the Hon Zaila McCalla, OJ, who will speak on 'Recent Developments in the Administration of the Courts, Challenges and Proposals for Reform'."

Behind-the-scene work

Commenting on the two presenters, Morgan said members of the legal profession and the judiciary, in particular, as well as the general public, would be closely listening, as several persons were of the view that very little or nothing was being done to improve the delivery of justice services in the country.

The chairman complimented both the minister and the chief justice for what he described as their "hard, behind-the-scene work".

"These ladies do not go around the place blowing their trumpets, but they are performing, and this seminar will afford them the opportunity not only to say what they are doing, but also to listen to the suggestions from the stakeholders," he argued.

Presentations will also be made by attorney-at-law Georgia Henlin and John Leiba on the 'Challenges of the Civil Procedure Code' and 'The Strata Titles Act and New Legislation', respectively.

Dr Stephen Vasciannie, principal of the Norman Manley Law School, will speak on 'The Caribbean Court of Justice - where do we go from here?'

Extradition on list

Jacqueline Samuels-Brown, president of the Jamaican Bar Association, will defend a paper on the much-anticipated subject of 'Extradition'.

In addition, Sophia Williams, registrar of titles, will speak on 'Fraud and Compensation under the Registration of Titles Act', and acting Commissioner of Police Les Green will speak on the 'Proceeds of Crime Act' and video identification.

The seminar is one in a series aimed at continuing the legal education of members of that profession.