About
### Overview Lennox Paton is a leading offshore, full service commercial law firm providing services to clients in relation to Bahamian law. As one of the Bahamas’ largest law firms it provides a comprehensive range of legal services including litigation, insolvency and restructuring, investment funds, trusts and foundations, banking and finance, real estate, resort development, corporate and commercial, private client, wealth management and shipping. The success of long-term client relationships and landmark cases has earned the firm recognition as one of the top firms in The Bahamas. Members serve on governmental and statutory bodies. Additionally, many of the firm’s lawyers are continually ranked amongst the best in this region. ### Litigation & Dispute Resolution The litigation team at Lennox Paton consists of dedicated and highly experienced individuals specialising in business disputes and complex commercial litigation. The team is well-known for representing clients in high profile and complex cases in The Bahamas and is regularly instructed in complex multi-jurisdictional matters, working with many of the leading international law firms globally in cross-border proceedings. The team represents a broad range of clients including bank and trust companies, foreign governments, government agencies, multinational corporations and financial institutions, as well as UHNW private clients, domestic companies and individuals. ### Banking & Securities Lennox Paton has the leading financial services practice in The Bahamas and advises on the establishment and licensing of banks, trust companies, investment advisors, broker-dealers and ongoing regulatory matters associated with these structures. The team regularly advises on cross-border offerings of securities by international financial institutions, in addition to all aspects of banking and financial transactions including note issuances, derivatives, securitisation including special purpose vehicles and structures. The team’s approach to regulatory matters is unmatched. It’s lawyers offer practical advice and attain efficient and effective resolutions. ### Insolvency & Restructuring The firm’s Insolvency and Restructuring team is highly regarded for their expertise in contentious and non-contentious matters and are widely acknowledged as a market leader in the region. The team is often involved in complex cross-border proceedings and is skilled in advising clients in relation to local insolvency laws or in relation to ancillary proceedings with a Bahamian component. Members of the team act on behalf of receivers, creditors, administrative receivers, directors, trustees in bankruptcy, fiduciary claimants, liquidators, and companies in connection with insolvency issues, including securing assets both domestically and internationally. The firm has also been involved in applications for the recognition of foreign court-appointed office holders and just and equitable winding up petitions on behalf of shareholders of investment funds with a master-feeder fund component. The firm currently acts one of the joint official liquidators of FTX Digital Markets Ltd. ### Investment Funds The team is highly experienced and well regarded in this area. It handles every aspect relating to the establishment (and where applicable, the licensing) of unregulated and regulated investment funds. Keeping on top of the ever-changing legal and regulatory environment, the team is able to simplify this complex area and meet the demands of a diverse range of clients including asset managers, investment managers and advisors, investors, custodians, family offices and agents. The team also helps clients to obtain licenses to establish and operate investment funds, including investment fund administrator licenses, and advise them on the legislative requirements for physical presence, business conduct and ongoing reporting obligations. ### Private Client & Trusts This specialist team regularly acts for high net worth individuals and their advisors worldwide in relation to all aspects of estate planning in order to establish structures to protect and manage assets. It also represents numerous trust companies and advises regularly on the drafting and construction of trust, foundation and corporate documentation. In addition to these services the team is frequently involved in handling disputes concerning trusts, foundations, and family matters in connection with divorce and ancillary relief proceedings involving international clients, as well as Inheritance Act claims. ### Real Estate & Resort Development The real estate and resort development group of Lennox Paton is known as an industry leader in the acquisition, project financing and master planning of large integrated mixed use resort and residential developments. Members are well-known for their considerable experience with fractional and condo-hotel structures, time-share, sales programmes for residential offerings, foreign direct investment and investment incentives. The team is routinely involved in the major resort, residential and commercial development projects happening throughout The Bahamas. The firm acts as legal advisor for projects such as Baha Mar (in receivership), Bimini Bay, Baker’s Bay, Cocodimama Resort, French Leave, Harborside Resort, Hurricane Hole, Norman’s Cay, Ocean Terrace, One Cable Beach, South Cat Cay and Sky Beach Resort. ### Shipping As one of the region’s most respected law firms, clients from all over the world call upon the team for guidance in shipping matters. The firm’s comprehensive and responsive legal advice on matters including provisional and original ship registration, transfer ship registration, inbound and outbound bareboat registration and ship mortgage registration. Members also act as special counsel to leading international financial institutions and ship owning groups on the financing of shipping groups offering the shares of Bahamian flag vessels as security. ### Languages - All main business languages ### Memberships - AIJA - International Association of Young Lawyers - INSOL - International Association of Restructuring - Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) - American Bankruptcy Institute - Multilaw
Office locations
Nassau
Nassau
Lennox Paton 3 Bayside Executive Park West Bay Street & Blake Road, Po Box N-4875 Nassau Bahamas
Practice areas
Lawyers in this office
Arthur Seligman
Arthur is the Head of the firm’s Trusts and Foundations Group and has vast experience of the Bahamian legal system and government departments having commenced his career as an Assistant Crown Counsel at the Office of the Attorney General doing both chambers and court work in relation to a wide range of corporate, property and commercial matters. Arthur advises on all aspects of Trusts, Foundations, Probate (both contentious and non-contentious) and Estate Planning and has an established local and international clientele consisting of both private individuals and financial and other institutions. He has written for various publications and regularly contributes articles to the International Law Office newsletter. Arthur has spoken at conferences both locally and abroad and is a member of the Bahamas Financial Service Board’s Trusts Working Group. · Trusts & Foundations
Brian Simms KC
Brian Simms KC is the Senior Partner of the firm and the head of its Litigation and Insolvency and Restructuring Groups. Brian is one of the Bahamas’ leading advocates and he has vast experience in the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal in addition to having appeared a number of times in the Privy Council. Brian was also appointed as one of the joint official liquidators for FTX Digitial Markets Ltd. He was made a Queen’s Counsel in 2009 and is instructed in the most substantial Bahamian and international offshore cases. The legal directories continually rank Brian as a tier one litigator and praise him for the quality of his work and expertise in commercial litigation, trust disputes, insolvency and fraud cases. Brian has been described by clients as “A top offshore Silk” and “The best litigation lawyer in the Bahamas”. · Litigation
Castino Sands
Castino assists with the leadership of the firm’s Banking and Finance, Corporate and Commercial, Investment Funds, Private Client Groups. · Banking & Finance
Chelon Carr-Newbold
Partner, Real Estate, Resort Development and Private Client Groups · Real Estate
Chizelle Cargill
Chizelle is a Partner in the Litigation Group. Her practice focuses on commercial and general litigation claims, including contracts, banking, insolvency, fraud, personal injury, professional negligence, employment and family law. · Litigation
Christopher Jenkins KC
Christopher Jenkins KC is a Partner in Lennox Paton's Commcercial Litigation department. His work covers the full spectrum of commercial practice, with an emphasis on property litigation, mortgagee remedies, insolvency advice and representation, asset recovery and shareholder disputes. He regularly appears at Supreme Court and Court of Appeal level and is accustomed to working alongside UK and US-based legal, insolvency and accounting teams in cross-border matters. · Litigation
David Johnstone
David Johnstone heads the firm's Real Estate, Resort Development, and Private Client Groups. He is the clear industry leader in representing resort developers in all aspects of resort development, including acquisition, financing, regulatory approvals, development, master planning and sales programmes. He has extensive regulatory experience, including drafting applications to the Bahamas Investment Authority, drafting heads of agreement, and drafting and negotiating subdivision and utility agreements with Government. David has established himself as the go-to legal adviser in master-planning mixed-use resorts with varied residential and amenity components, including subdivisions, condominium, condohotel and timeshare components. He has structured complex condohotel programmes for homeowners’ associations, and advised on structuring golf club and marina club programmes for many of the county’s largest resorts. Additionally, David has established himself as an expert in representing high net worth private clients in real estate acquisitions and economic permanent residency matters. He has extensive experience in secured financing transactions, construction and mezzanine financing, securitisation and residential and commercial lease transactions. · Real Estate
Dr. David Hayton
Dr David Hayton LLD (Cantab) LLD (Newcastle Univ) TEP (Hon) ACTAPS (Hon), Barrister and Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn, London, Fellow of King’s College London, was a full-time Judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice in Trinidad from July 2005 to July 2019. As a member of the CCJ and one of the Court’s longest-serving judges, he has been described by advocates and fellow judges as an “intellectual giant” and “a jurist of international repute.” David joined Lennox Paton in early September 2019 as a Consultant, his practice spans the firm’s Trust and Litigation groups. He provides legal opinions, litigation support and acts as an expert witness in Trust Law and arbitrator. He has contributed over 50 papers to learned journals and authored or edited sixteen books in the area of trusts (including Underhill & Hayton, Law of Trusts & Trustees), property, succession and tax. He is thus arguably the leading authority in the United Kingdom and Europe on trust law. · Trusts & Estates
Dwight Glinton
Dwight is a Senior Associate in Lennox Paton's Litigation Group. His experience covers a wide range of civil litigation matters, including banking, finance, securities and equity litigation; admiralty and shipping proceedings; personal injury negligence claims; fraud; contentious probate, trust and real property matters; and employment disputes. · Litigation
Jamie Liddell
Jamie is a Partner in the firm’s Real Estate Group in Nassau. He joined the firm in 2016 and focuses on legal master planning of mixed-use developments, with particular expertise in out-island projects. He also has a fast-growing transactional practice. · Real Estate
Jana Ward
Jana is an Associate in the firm's Real Estate group. · Real Estate
Keath Smith
Keath is an Associate in the firm’s Litigation group. · Litigation
Lethea Carey
Lethea is an Associate in the firm’s Financial Services Group. · Banking & Finance
Marco Turnquest
Partner, Litigation & Dispute Resolution, Insolvency & Restructuring, Trusts & Foundations · Litigation
McFalloughn Bowleg
McFalloughn is an Associate in the firm's Litigation Group. · Litigation
Metta MacMillan-Hughes KC
Metta MacMillan-Hughes KC is recognised as a leading commercial and civil litigator in the Bahamas. Held in high regard by the judiciary and her peers, her submissions in several cases have precipitated amendments to the law. She regularly appears before the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal and has also appeared before the Privy Council in the UK. Although her experience and practice covers the full spectrum of civil and commercial litigation Metta is particularly well known in the Bahamas legal arena when it comes to insolvency, especially in relation to trust assets held by insolvent companies, in which her approach in the leading Bahamian case – Dominion Investments – was approved by the Court and incorporated in the Bahamian Insolvency legislation. In addition to insolvency she has developed particular expertise in Proceeds of Crime Act and Mutual Legal Assistance proceedings; Insurance litigation involving high value catastrophic injury, death and property claims, professional negligence indemnity claims; Asset recovery and all forms of Interlocutory relief including injunctions (including Worldwide Freeze orders) disclosure orders (including Norwich Pharmacal orders; electronic discovery); as well as in many less well known areas such as issues involving the Computer Misuse Act and Listening Devices Act in the context of civil proceedings. Recognised as a leading Family law specialist she is frequently instructed for high net worth international clients who have retired to The Bahamas or have assets here. She deals with divorces, financial provision claims, custody and access disputes and is frequently engaged to negotiate and prepare Pre and Post Nuptial Agreements. · Litigation
Michael Paton
Of Counsel Based in Nassau, Michael is a former partner and head of the firm’s Corporate and Commercial, Investment Funds and Banking and Finance Groups. He is consistently recommended in the legal directories and has been ranked in Band 1 for Chambers Global and Chambers HNW Guide 2018. Michael’s areas of practice include corporate, finance, banking, securities, mergers & acquisitions, investment funds, trusts and foundations. He has spoken at numerous international conferences, has written numerous articles, and has authorised several chapters for practitioner texts on Bahamian legal issues. Michael is former chairman of the Bahamas Financial Services Board (2002-2004), and he is currently deputy chairman of the Securities Commission of The Bahamas (since 2017). He is also a qualified Certified Public Accountant (non-practising) in the United States. · Corporate / M&A
Michelle Neville-Clarke
Michelle heads the firm’s Banking and Finance, Corporate and Commercial, Investment Funds, Private Client Groups. She has considerable experience in the areas of investment funds, securities law, corporate and commercial matters, banking and finance, mergers and acquisitions, employment law, immigration, probate, private client and wealth management matters. Michelle’s portfolio of work in financial services in the past year saw her act as lead counsel for the Special committee of directors of a publicly listed utilities company in advising s to the necessary steps for sale of the company’s shares and delisting of such company from the Bahamas International Stock Exchange. Michelle has written numerous articles and is frequently asked to present at both local and international conferences on her areas of expertise and is ranked by both the International Financial Law Review and Chambers Global. Michelle routinely works with both international and local clientele ranging from large financial institutions and international law firms to private individual clients and works closely with the various regulators in The Bahamas. · Banking & Finance
Nateisha L. Anderson-Bain
Nateisha is a Partner in the Real Estate Group. She specialises in representing purchasers and vendors in buying and selling residential and commercial property, as well as representing mortgagees and mortgagors in secured financing transactions. Nateisha also focuses on resort and condominium development, including all aspects of acquisition, financing, regulatory approvals, master planning, sales programmes and the drafting of heads of agreements. Her practice extends generally to private client, corporate, commercial, estate planning and residency matters. · Real Estate
Ramonne Gardiner
Ramonne is a Partner in the Litigation Group. He is highly experienced in commercial and civil litigation, including insolvency and restructuring, company, trust, contract and personal injury claims. He has appeared as junior counsel in both the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal of The Bahamas. Ramonne is a member of the Bahamas Bar Association, Young ICCA – International Council for Commercial Arbitration and AIJA-International Association of Young Lawyers. · Litigation
Sebastian Masnyk
Sebastian is an Associate in the firm’s litigation department, having joined the firm in 2018. His practice covers Litigation & Dispute Resolution, Insolvency & Restructuring, Corporate & Commercial, Trusts & Foundations, Private Client matters, and Real Estate. · Litigation
Sophia Rolle-Kapousouzoglou
Sophia is a partner in our commercial litigation department. She appears regularly as lead counsel before the Bahamian Supreme Court and Court of Appeal. Sophia continues to receive growing recognition for her reputation in the field of insolvency litigation. Chambers Global comment ‘Sophia continues to enhance her already impressive disputes reputation. Sources describe her as “excellent,” “practical,” and “meticulous.” She is well versed in handling disputes relating to securities fraud, asset tracing and insolvency’. She impresses sources with her industrious approach to the work she takes on, with The Legal 500 Caribbean noting “Sophia Rolle-Kapousouzoglou does an excellent job; she is highly recommended for being extremely professional, efficient and experienced. Working with Sophia is like working with some of the top firms in London.” Sophia represents clients in multi-jurisdictional matters and has acted in several prominent cross-border insolvency cases. She is also experienced in shareholder and company disputes and trust litigation. Her overall practice areas include advising clients with respect to contractual disputes, property disputes, fraud and asset tracing, Norwich Pharmacal applications, applications for injunctions and other interlocutory relief. Sophia has been recognised by Chambers Global 2023, The Legal 500 Caribbean 2023, Who’s Who Legal: Asset Recovery 2020, Who’s Who Legal: Litigation 2020, Global Restructuring Review’s ’40 Under 40’ and was featured in GRR’s ‘Women in Restructuring’ list in 2019. She is regularly called on to speak at various international conferences, including INSOL, ABA, ABI, and the AIJA, and has contributed to numerous publications with respect to Bahamian law. · Insolvency & Restructuring
Stanley Burnside
Stanley is an Associate in the firm’s Financial Services Group. · Banking & Finance
Takeio Frazer
Takeio is an Associate in the firm’s Litigation Group, having joined the firm in 2023. · Litigation
The Honourable Mr. Justice Jon Isaacs
Consultant · Litigation
Valdere Murphy
Valdere J. Murphy is an Associate in the firm’s Litigation Group. Since joining the Firm in 2018, he regularly appears as lead and junior counsel before the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal. Valdere has a keen interest in insolvency and restructuring, asset tracing, injunctive relief, corporate and contractual disputes, admiralty and trust litigation. He has experience in representing both individual and institutional clients at all stages of litigation, including interlocutory applications (such as injunctive relief), at trial and on appeal. Valdere has also gained noteworthy experience in cross-border insolvency and restructuring matters since joining the Firm. Valdere is currently the Chair of the Young Lawyers Group of Multilaw for the Caribbean/Offshore Region. · Litigation
Vonisha Rolle
Vonisha is an Associate in the firm’s Litigation Group, having joined the firm in 2022. Her practice primarily focuses on Litigation and Dispute Resolution, Insolvency and Restructuring, Corporate and Commercial. · Litigation
Wilfred Ferguson Jr.
Wilfred is an Associate in the firm’s Litigation Department, working directly under Senior Partner and head of litigation, Brian Simms QC. His practice covers insolvency and restructuring, trust disputes, commercial litigation, personal injury, contractual disputes and fraud cases. Wilfred has appeared as junior counsel in both the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal of the Bahamas. · Litigation
