Trini judge is Eastern Caribbean Court acting CJ

A Trinidadian judge has made history becoming the first Trinidadian woman to be appointed chief justice outside the Eastern Caribbean.

Justice Margaret Price-Findlay was sworn in as acting Chief justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court on May 2. She will act from May 5 to February 25, 2026, until the regional court’s judicial and legal service commission appoints a substantive CJ.

She is the first from outside the Eastern Caribbean to hold that position as all the chief justices in the history of the court have all come from within the Eastern Caribbean.

Price-Findlay was born in Diego Martin and received her early education at the Holy Name Convent, Port of Spain. In 1985, Price-Findlay obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree with honours from the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados. She attended the Hugh Wooding Law School and received the Legal Education Certificate upon completion of her studies in 1987.

Incidentally, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar was one of her contemporaries at the Hugh Wooding Law School, class of 1987.

Later that year, Justice Price-Findlay was called to the Bar of Trinidad and Tobago.

She began her legal career as an associate in the law firm of James Brathwaite from 1987-1988. Between 1988 and 1990, she was an associate in the Chambers of Clarke and Company; between 1991 and 1994, she held the position of associate in the Chambers of McW Todman and Company in the Territory of the Virgin Islands. In 1995, she founded her private legal practice in the Virgin Islands, which expanded into a law firm with other notable partners and associates. Justice Price-Findlay served as managing partner in her firm until she was appointed to act as a High Court Judge of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court assigned to Anguilla from February to May 2009.

In September 2009, Justice Price-Findlay was appointed a High Court judge assigned to Grenada. From September 1, 2015 to August 2022, she was assigned to St Lucia and served as a judge of the Criminal Division of the High Court and seven years later, on September 1, 2022, she was elevated to the Court of Appeal Bench.

Her biography on the court’s website said Justice Price Findlay “brings extensive experience to the role, including an invaluable understanding of the trial and appellate jurisdictions. She has also acted as a judge of the Court of Appeal on numerous occasions prior to her full-time appointment.”