Sir David Anthony Cathcart Simmons, KA, BCH, KC,

LLM A large language model (LLM) is a language model trained with Self-supervised learning, self-supervised machine learning on a vast amount of text, designed for natural language processing tasks, especially Natural language generation, language g ...

(born April 28, 1940) is a Caribbean jurist and politician: a former Chief Justice of Barbados, he also served as Attorney General.

Early life and education

David Simmons was born in

Saint Philip, Barbados Saint Philip is a parishes of Barbados, parish of Barbados at the easternmost end of the island. Saint Philip’s Parish Church, Barbados, Saint Philip’s Parish Church was built as the Anglican parish church in 1640. St. Philip has the largest ...

, the oldest child of Sybil a nurse and Kenneth, a teacher. He has three brothers and one sister. His godparents were Sir

Hugh Springer Sir Hugh Worrell Springer (22 June 1913 – 14 April 1994) was the organiser and first general secretary of the Barbados Workers' Union, and Barbados' fourth governor-general. He was a lawyer, politician and public servant. By an act of Parlia ...

and Dr

Hugh Gordon Cummins Dr. Hugh Gordon Hylvestra Cummins (2 February 1891 – 26 October 1970) was a Barbadian politician. He served as Premier of Barbados from 17 April 1958 to 8 December 1961 and was a member of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP). In 1919, Dr. Cu ...

. He was educated at the Wesley Hall Boys' School, St Philip's Boys' School, and

The Lodge School The Lodge School is a co-educational government secondary school in Saint John, Barbados, established in 1745. The school has closed and reopened four times, and has been known as Codrington College, The College, The Mansion School, the Codrington ...

and then attended university in London, studying at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

1960–1965, graduating as Master of Laws (LL.M.) and being called to the bar at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

. While in London, Simmons also reported as a journalist on the 1966 Barbados Independence Conference.

Legal career

Simmons returned to Barbados and joined the chambers of Sir Henry Forde, becoming a

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

after 14 years of practice, a record time in Barbados. He also lectured in law at the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 18 English-speaking countries and territories in t ...

, Cave Hill.

Political career

Simmons became active in the

Barbados Labour Party The Barbados Labour Party (BLP), colloquially known as the "Bees", is a social democratic political party in Barbados established in 1938. It has been in power in 1954–1961, 1976–1986, 1994–2008, and 2018–present. The BLP has been the go ...

. In 1971, he stood unsuccessfully in the St Philip North seat, before winning it in a by-election in 1976. He served as the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible g ...

member for St Thomas from 1985 until his retirement in 2001, including three terms as Attorney General of Barbados.

Later career and honours

Simmons was made a Knight of St Andrew (Order of Barbados) in November 2001. On 1 January 2002, he became Chief Justice of Barbados. He is a Member of The Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission of the

Caribbean Court of Justice The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ or CCtJ; ; ) is the judicial institution of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Established in 2005, it is based in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The Caribbean Court of Justice has two jurisdictions: an ...

and Chairman of the Turks and Caicos Integrity Commission. He has also served as Chairman of a number of national and international judicial bodies: * Chairman of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (1997/98); * Chairman of the EU/Caribbean Conference which developed the "Barbados Plan of Action" (1996); * Chairman of the Joint US/Caribbean Sub-Committee which developed a Plan of Action on Justice and Security issues, signed by President Clinton and Caribbean Heads (1997); * Chairman of the Regional Committee for the establishment of a Maritime Cooperation Against the Traffic in Illicit Narcotic Drugs in the Caribbean project (1999-2002); * Chairman of the Preparatory Committee to establish the

(1999-2001); first Chairman of the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission (2003-2004); * Chairman of the High Level Task Force to supervise the inauguration of the Caribbean Court of Justice (2004-2005). In 2006, Simmons was elected as an Honorary Bencher of the Honorable Society of Lincoln's Inn. Simmons chaired the 2013

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typeset for branding purposes since 2018 as Concacaf), is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football. Its 4 ...

investigation which found FIFA Vice President Jack Warner guilty of corruption. In 2013, he was appointed Chairman of the Tivoli Inquiry into the violence surrounding the 2010 arrest of

Christopher Coke Christopher Michael Coke, also known as Dudus (born 13 March 1969), is a convicted Jamaican drug lord and the leader of the Shower Posse, a violent drug gang started by his father Lester Coke in Jamaica, which exported "large quantities" of ma ...

Personal life

Simmons married Marie McCormack, later Madam Justice McCormack (the first woman to be appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of Barbados); they have a son and daughter. His personal interests include calypso music and cricket.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simmons, David 1940 births Barbadian judges Barbadian lawyers People from Saint Philip, Barbados Barbadian knights Knights and Dames of St Andrew (Barbados) Barbadian Queen's Counsel Barbados Labour Party politicians Living people Members of the House of Assembly of Barbados Attorneys-general of Barbados Chief justices of Barbados Barbadian expatriates in the United Kingdom