Mangatal hailed for service to Cayman courts

Ingrid Mangatal, the Grand Court justice in the Cayman Islands who is expected to leave the Bench in a matter of days, has been lauded by at least one of her colleagues for her contribution to the British overseas territory’s judicial system.

Mangatal, who is Jamaican, will be demitting her post effective October 31.

“Justice Mangatal has clearly played an integral role, along with the chief justice and the other FSD (Financial Services Division) judges, in retaining and further developing The Cayman Islands as one of the most highly regarded trial centres for complex commercial cases across the globe,” said High Court Judge Richard Williams at a special sitting of the Cayman High Court earlier this month.

DISTINGUISHED RECORD

Williams, a friend of Mangatal, said she would leave behind a distinguished record.

“When I refer to ‘rich learning’, I mean the 113 written judgments delivered by Justice Mangatal in under five years. In fact, in 2016, she delivered 32 judgments in one year. Her decisions have dealt with a wide cross section of FSD and civil matters, which include some significant decisions in the Family Division,” the high court judge said.

“She clearly is a fair judge who is acutely sensitive to the responsibilities of the court … as shown by the sensitive manner in which she recently handled a series of complex asylum cases in the absence of any case-law precedent.”

Changing focus from her contribution in the area of law, Williams also made reference to her life outside the courtroom.

“Few here might know that Justice Mangatal is a champion, not only in the field of law, but in sports. Some might say that the little-publicised expertise as a former national table tennis champion in Jamaica gave her an advantage when batting off or counter­smashing what may be termed ‘trying it on submissions’ ping-ponging from all angles from counsel’s row,” he said.

Mangatal was appointed to the Cayman Islands Grand Court on January 1, 2015, by former Governor Helen Kilpatrick.

Before that, she was an acting judge in the Jamaica Court of Appeal.