Richard Savory

 

RFS-2

RICHARD SAVORY PA QC
B.Com., LL.B. (University of Auckland), King's Counsel, Notary Public, Holder of the Patriotic Award of the Turks & Caicos Islands

Richard Savory is the principal of the firm, which he founded in 1981, originally in Grand Turk and later in Providenciales. He holds degrees in law and commerce (major in accounting) from the University of Auckland in New Zealand.

He served as President of the Bar Council in the years 1988–1990, 1995–1999, and 2003–2005 and as Vice-President from 2009–2010. He was appointed Acting Judge of the Supreme Court in May 1998, and in 1999 was made a Justice of the Peace and a Notary Public. He was the Elections Adjudicator for the Islands from 1999 to 2004.  He was one of the members of the Government-appointed ‘blue ribbon’ Immigration Review Commission which reported in February 2004, and of the National Plan Steering Committee in 2005 and 2006. He was a member of the Immigration Board from 2009 to 2012.  He was one of the first to be invited to be a member of the Integrity Commission, as the representative of the legal profession.  He was apponted Queen’s Counsel in March 2013 (now King's Counsel). He was appointed Acting Chairman of the Labour Tribunal in February 2014. In October 2018 he received the Patriotic Award – Cayos Medal under the National Honours and Awards Ordinance.

He is counsel to several of the large corporations operating in Turks & Caicos, and has been involved in several substantial business, financing and restructuring transactions.  He is a director of a number of companies.

He has had long involvement in commercial real estate, including representation of the purchasers and developers of major resort properties in Providenciales. He was responsible for the bringing into force the present condominium legislation and in 1984 registered the first condominium in Turks & Caicos. He has had extensive experience of condominium documentation and administration and first-hand involvement in issues relating to developers and managers of condominium projects in the Islands and elsewhere.  He is also very familiar with practical and legal issues relating to the subdivision and development of residential communities, and has recently prepared a draft of new legislation known as the Community Land Ordinance, which is awaiting approval by the current administration.

He has had wide experience of advocacy before the Courts of Turks & Caicos, including acting as counsel in major international liquidations and asset-tracing actions. He is experienced in forensic financial investigations and, with his accounting qualifications, is able to communicate on a technical level with accountants and bookkeepers.

He has appeared several times in the Court of Appeal, including full appeals in four cases (one involving the death penalty), and twice before the Privy Council (Kellar v. Williams [2000] 2 BCLC 390, (2000) 61 WIR 552, and [2004] UKPC 30). In every case judgment was in his client's favour.

Mr Savory has had a long and close association with the drafting of TCI's financial services legislation: the Companies Ordinance (including Limited Life Companies and Foundation-type companies), the Banking Ordinance, the Insurance Ordinance, the Trusts Ordinance, the Trustees (Licensing) Ordinance, the Limited Partnerships Ordinance, the Company Managers Ordinance, the Mutual Funds Ordinance, the Voluntary Dispositions Ordinance, and the Proceeds of Crime Ordinance. He participated in the drafting of the voluntary Code of Conduct for the Financial Industry (1984). He was commissioned by the TCI Bar Association to draft the Legal Profession Ordinance and participated in drafting meetings leading to its enactment in 1997. He was also involved in the drafting of subsidiary legislation under that Ordinance, including the Code of Professional Conduct. He sat on the Law Revision Committee which was involved in the work necessary for the publication a complete revised edition of the laws of Turks and Caicos in 1998. He currently represents the Bar Association on the executive of the Financial Industry Association.

Mr Savory effected the incorporation of the following not-for-profit organizations: Chamber of Commerce, the Financial Industry Association, the Bankers Association of Turks & Caicos, the Association of Licensed Trustees, the Turks & Caicos Real Estate Association, the TCI Contractors Association, the TCI Education Foundation, the Turks & Caicos Friends of the Arts Foundation, and the Turks & Caicos National Museum Foundation.

Authorships: Outline of the Turks & Caicos Islands as an International Offshore Finance Centre (TCI 1989, 1991, 1993). Land Purchase & Residence (Offshore Investment Magazine: "Close up: Turks & Caicos", 1988); Turks & Caicos Trusts (Inner Temple Yearbook 1991/1992, London; Times of the Islands, Summer 1991); TCI: A Specialist Jurisdiction (Times of the Islands, Winter 1994/95); Condominium Law in the Turks and Caicos Islands (Times of the Islands, Winter 1997/98). Editor for Turks & Caicos, International Offshore Finance Centres Manual (Commerce Clearing House, 1990). Contributor to The OFC Report 1992 and The OFC Report 1995/96 (Ed. Milton Grundy); Offshore Trust Yearbook 1993 (International Money Marketing); The International Offshore & Financial Centres Handbook 1993 (London Society of Chartered Accountants).

Memberships: Turks & Caicos Islands Bar Association. International Bar Association.

Past memberships: Financial Industry Liaison Committee, Financial Services Law Group. Trusts Technical Committee, Law Revision Committee, Financial Industry Association (Bar Association Representative).

Other positions: Founding member, past President, and legal counsel of the TCI Education Foundation, the charity that established the secondary school, British West Indies Collegiate, in 1993 and continues to operate it.   Founding member and former Treasurer of the Turks & Caicos Friends of the Arts Foundation.    Founding member and former Treasurer and legal counsel (for 12 years) of the Turks & Caicos Real Estate Association, and first to be given the status of lifetime member.

Areas of practice: Commercial transactions including acquisitions, companies, bank lending and collection, financial services, trusts, development, real estate, immigration and business establishment, commercial litigation.