Investors considering The Bahamas are advised to retain the services of a law firm of the highest standing to help navigate the process.

The law firm will provide step-by-step guidance, easing the complexities of legislation, policies and procedures of investing in a foreign country.

Choosing the right law firm is critical. To make the selection process easier, we suggest asking the following serious 7 questions when researching firms:

1. What international alliances does the firm have?

2. How experienced are its senior members?

3. What are the firm’s areas of specialized interest and expertise?

4. Has the firm’s reputation ever suffered from being tainted as a result of infractions or been cited by the Ethics Committee of the Bahamas Bar Association (www.bahamasbarassocation.com)?

5. Is the firm listed on the website of the Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB-Bahamas.com)?

6. Does the firm appear to have a strong foothold in the community? Is it involved in community activities?

7. Does the firm’s website reflect the kind of character you can relate to?

Some of the questions are straightforward.

What international alliances does the firm have? Asking that question alone will eliminate most of the firms in The Bahamas. Asking it of Halsbury Chambers elicits this response.

Halsbury Chambers is proud to be the exclusive firm in The Bahamas selected for membership in the International Lawyers Network, (ILN), an association of 91-high-quality, full service law firms with over 5000 lawyers worldwide. In 2006, the international organisation held its regional annual meetings in The Bahamas with Halsbury Chambers as host, the first time a small island nation had ever hosted an ILN event of such magnitude. The independent lawyer firms of ILN are recognised globally by such firms as IBM who selected ILN member firms to assist and advise in real estate transactions. Benefits of ILN affiliation include exchange of information among legal services in 70 countries on six continents. Halsbury Chambers is a member of the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and the Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB), a collaborative group of guasi-government officials and private sector participants, which promotes and provides strategic direction to the financial services industry locally and internationally.

Senior associates bring expertise. Halsbury Chambers founder W. Branville McCartney was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1990 and admitted to the Bahamas Bar Association that same year. Other Partners and Associates are licensed to practice in the UK and The Bahamas for more than 20 years and among the firms’ attorneys and consultants is the highly-respected former Justice of the Supreme Court of The Bahamas Jeanne Thompson. Each attorney in the firm brings his or her individual expertise but unlike many firms which operate as an umbrella for attorneys whose practice is actually semi-independent, Halsbury Chambers prides itself on team discussions and reviews with participatory research leading to the building of stronger cases.

While some questions can be easily answered through research, others are instinctual, a feeling of comfort, of identifying with the philosophy of what drives one firm by comparison to the others.

At Halsbury Chambers, we think of it as going beyond the expertise of law to the ethics of behaviour and the ethos of community. That is why we openly share judgments and decisions that we believe impact lives and businesses and why we publish case reviews in our quarterly newsletters and bi-monthly bulletins. That is why our attorneys are selected to publish in international journals.

Commitment to community — to taking the mystery out of the law — is what drives Halsbury Chambers to host free legal clinics, a series that has elevated the firm to a unique position in Bahamian society. It is our way of closing the perceived gap between the law and the public. At Halsbury Chambers, we believe that law is meant to be understood by everyone so that no one has to ever hear the words ‘ignorance of the law is no excuse.’ In business as well as in personal endeavours, lack of familiarity can lead to unintended consequences.