Justice James Aboud goes to the Appeal Court

Another judge has been added to the roster in the Court of Appeal. Justice James Aboud on Friday received his instrument of appointment as a judge of the appellate court from Chief Justice Ivor Archie.

There are now 17 judges in the Court of Appeal, including the CJ.

Aboud, who has a degree in English literature from the University of Western Ontario, and a post-graduate diploma in international relations from UWI, St Augustine, obtained his bachelor of laws (LLB) at the Cave Hill campus, Barbados, in 1984, and was called to the Bar of England and Wales and TT the same year.

He practised as an advocate from 1984-2006, starting in the chambers of Trevor Lee, SC, then later in the chambers of Fyard Hosein, SC, and worked in the areas of wills and trusts, public law, admiralty, commercial and land law.

From 1987-1993, he served as a commissioner of the Public Utilities Commission, hearing contested applications for rate increases by the public utilities, among other regulatory duties.

He sat on the board of National Flour Mills from 1987-1991.

Aboud also served the council of the Law Association as its honorary treasurer from 1994-2003. He was a member of its disciplinary council from 1997-2005, hearing and determining complaints against attorneys by their former clients.

Aboud was also a contributor of scholarly legal articles to The Lawyer and served on its editorial committee. In January 2006, he was appointed as an acting High Court judge, serving exclusively at the Supreme Court, San Fernando, until December 2007.

In a statement, the Judiciary said he assisted in greatly reducing the backlog of cases that had accumulated in that court under the former rules of court.

“He got a notorious reputation in San Fernando for sitting late into the evenings – once until 7 pm on a Friday – in order to complete the many matters that had become inactive,” the statement said.

Aboud returned to private practice in 2008. In 2010, he accepted an appointment as a permanent judge of the High Court.

While a judge, he was the chairman of the committee that wrote the Handbook on Damages for False Imprisonment and Malicious Prosecution in TT (published by the Judicial Education Institute of TT).

He is the son of the late Jimmy Aboud, “The Textile King,” and Lily Elias Aboud. His brothers Gregory, Stephen and Gary Aboud and his sister Linda Aboud-Stephen are all deeply involved in national service of one type or the other, the Judiciary said.

Aboud is married to Siân Jeary-Aboud and his three daughters, Emily, Catherine Rebecca, and Vivien all won national scholarships.

He is also well known in writing circles as a poet. Two of his poetry collections were published and many of his poems have been anthologised and printed in a variety of literary magazines and journals. In 2004, he won the James Rodway Poetry Prize awarded by Derek Walcott and Boston University for his book Lagahoo Poems.

He continues to write poetry in his spare time and is an amateur painter and an avid tennis player.

The statement said, “Mr Justice Aboud now brings to the Court of Appeal of TT an acute sense of public duty and confidence in advancing the welfare of our Republic’s institutions and its civilisation. His gift for language and his analytical mind will be an asset to the Court of Appeal.

"When asked what the secret of better writing is, he said 'better thinking.'”

His most recent decision was in the case of of Dr Wayne Kublalsingh and the Highway Reroute Movement against the Government’s construction of the Debe-Mon Desir portion of the Solomon Hochoy Highway to Point Fortin.