By Admin. Updated 7:23 p.m., Thursday, January 29, 2025, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4).
Vincentian attorney-at-law Mr. Mikhail Charles, 36, has been named the Society of Caribbean Lawyers (SOCAL) 2024 Lawyer of the Year.
The not-for-profit organization, which is run by unremunerated volunteers, made the announcement about the inaugural award on its website recently.
SOCAL stated that its mission is “to support the work and represent the interests of lawyers of Caribbean heritage in the United Kingdom and lawyers who work in the Caribbean.”
Mr. Charles, a qualified mediator, has practiced law in both the United Kingdom and the Caribbean. He was nominated for an award and subsequently won.
One News SVG reached out to Mr. Charles for his thoughts on receiving the award. He expressed that he is “humbled by it,” adding that he enjoys “working hard and exploring nontraditional ways of working.”
“If someone else can qualify all over the world, why can’t I? If English barristers can travel around the Caribbean, why can’t I travel around England and Wales?” he stated.
“Ruby Mattis JP, my Granny always says I can do anything I put my mind to,” the Vincentian-born lawyer remarked.
In a question-and-answer session published by SOCAL, Mr. Charles shared his professional journey:
“I was called to the English Bar in 2012 (did not obtain English pupillage), then returned to SVG in 2013 where I was admitted there, and subsequently got admitted in Grenada and Saint Lucia in 2015.”
“My career really took off after defending the largest money laundering case in the Eastern Caribbean in 2013 – 15 and then a stint at the Commonwealth Secretariat, where I worked in policy and technical assistance. Soon after, I moved to Saint Lucia for almost two years, taking up a role in the regulatory body responsible for telecommunications across the Eastern Caribbean. From there, I was admitted to the Bar of the British Virgin Islands and Saint Kitts and Nevis, which naturally led to a good deal of cross-border work between the BVI and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines—a big nod to the team at Harneys for the opportunities that came my way,” he said.
“In the midst of all this, I started to develop the fabled “commercial awareness.” I completed a two-year Master’s in Corporate and Commercial Law at Nottingham Law School, which further honed my expertise. Afterward, I spent another two years in the Turks and Caicos Islands, working with a boutique litigation firm. That experience was invaluable—one day I might be handling Hong Kong arbitrations, the next tackling trust-busting in Belgium or judgment enforcement in the BVI, and maybe even insolvency matters spanning Texas to Trinidad and Tobago,” he said.
Read more about his earlier life growing up in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and practicing law in other jurisdictions here:https://www.socalawyers.com/news/interview-socal-2024-barrister-of-the-year-winner-mikhail-charles?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR395942MBIN5BOZfl7S9Uo15lm6nfQxcoOp2sOHRVgl9mHUtpx_j5DVrl4_aem_ji68SEaSFKU-cR-6pVXarw
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