Responsibilities and Portfolio

The Attorney-General and a team of law officers and administrative personnel of the Office of the Attorney-General (“OAG”) and Ministry of Legal Affairs (“MLA”) provide advice and services on a range of law and justice issues. The Attorney-General’s portfolio encompasses a diverse range of responsibilities as follows:
 

The Attorney-General's Portfolio Agencies are:

1. The Office of the Attorney-General
2. Law Reform and Revision Commission
3. Registrar General's Department

The OAG leads the portfolio and sets the policy and operational direction.  The administrative head of the OAG and MLA is the Permanent Secretary.  To effectively execute the legal service functions of the Attorney-General, the OAG is divided into two departments, namely:

1. Department of Legal Affairs; and,
2. Department of Public Prosecutions.

Department of Legal Affairs

The Department of Legal Affairs is the larger of the two departments headed by the Director of Legal Affairs.  The Office of Director of Legal Affairs is as a matter of law the Head of the Legal Department of the OAG.

The Department provides services to Parliament, all government ministries and departments, and to the several Service Commissions.  The Department of Legal Affairs, in turn, is organized into four (4) sections:

Civil Chambers – Advises government ministries and agencies; and drafts and vets legal documents on behalf of the government. Currently, nine (9)  law officers are assigned to this section.

Civil Litigation – Acts on behalf of government ministries and agencies in civil litigation, whether as plaintiff or defendant, and renders advice to the government and its agencies on contentious matters. This section also represents the Crown in judicial review proceedings except in relation to the criminal law.

International – Provides assistance to foreign countries in matters of mutual legal assistance pursuant to treaties, under the Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Act, or under the Civil Justice (Proceedings in Other Jurisdictions) Act; and also carries out treaty obligations under multilateral organizations to which The Bahamas is a party, such as the Caribbean Community, Organisation of American States and the United Nations. It also has responsibility for conducting any litigation necessary to execute its mandate.

Legislative Drafting – This section is equivalent to what is known as the office of parliamentary counsel in other Commonwealth jurisdictions. It drafts and amends Bills and subsidiary legislation. The Legislative Drafting section is to be distinguished from the Law Reform and Revision Commission in that the latter has the function of keeping the laws of The Bahamas under constant review so as to systematically develop and modernize them. Whereas the Commission undertakes large legislative reform projects, the Legislative Drafting section generally does not.

The Law Reform and Revision Commission is responsible for the review of all the laws applicable to The Bahamas with a view to its systematic development and reform. The Commission is also responsible for the preparation and publication of a revised edition of the statute law and a revised edition of the subsidiary legislation. The Commission is located in the British American Building on Navy Lyon Road & Marlborough Streets, Nassau, New Providence.

The Registrar General’s Department is responsible for:

• Registration of Deeds and Documents
• Certification and Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths
• Companies
• Registration of Business Names
• Registration of Commission Merchants
• Intellectual Property Office (Patents, Trademarks & Copyright & Design Copyright)

These responsibilities are carried out under the supervision of the Registrar General. The Registrar General's Department is located at 50 Shirley Street, Nassau, New Providence.

The Attorney-General is the relevant Minister for purposes of the Marriage Act, Ch. 120 and, pursuant to section 6 of that Act, may designate public officers to be registrars of marriages and may appoint any minister of religion to be a marriage officer.

The Eugene Dupuch Law School is the most recently established law school of the Council of Legal Education. The Eugene Dupuch Law School prepares students for admission to practise law in The Bahamas as well as other Caribbean territories.

Students from all over the region, such as Anguilla, Antigua, Barbados, the Turks & Caicos Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Kitts and Nevis and the U.S. Virgin Islands, have graduated from the Eugene Dupuch Law School. The Law School is located on Thompson Boulevard on the island of New Providence.

The Attorney-General is also responsible for relations with the:

• Judiciary
• Industrial Relations Tribunal
• Magistracy
• The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority
• The Utilities Appeal Tribunal.

Other Related Links

Supreme Court

Court of Appeal