About the Bar Council

The Bar Council is the successor body to the Gibraltar Bar Association that for some time was the representative organisation for lawyers in Gibraltar.

The Council itself was formally constituted in the early 1990s following significant growth in the legal profession over the last 40 years.

The Council is made up of a Chairman, Vice-Chairman and a number of members elected at Annual General Meetings of the Bar Council from among subscriber members. There is also provision to co-opt members where necessary. The Council members are drawn from all levels of seniority within the legal profession and is thus representative of the profession as a whole. The current members of the Council are:

  • David Dumas QC – Chairman
  • Andrew J. Haynes
  • Kenneth Navas (Treasurer)
  • Daniel Benyunes
  • Andrew Cardona
  • Justin Phillips
  • Nicholas Borge
  • Chris Brunt
  • Cecile Gomez
  • Emma Lejeune
  • Dhiraj Nagrani
  • Patrick Canessa
  • Madge Bishop (Secretary)

The list of Chairmen of the Bar Council is as follows:

Year Chairman
1993-1995 Sir Joshua Hassan QC, GBE, KCMG, LVO, GMH
1996-1999 A. V. Stagnetto QC
1999-2001 Robert Vasquez
2002-2004 Anthony M. Provasoli
2005-2008 James J. Neish QC
2009-2011 David Dumas QC
2012-2014 J.E. (Melo) Triay
2015-2017 Keith Azopardi QC
2017 David Dumas QC

The stated aim of the Bar Council is that it should, in due course, be placed on a statutory footing and it is in discussions with Government to achieve that aim.

Enhancing Justice, Regulation and the Quality of Legal Services