Retired
Chief Justice Michael De La Bastide Q.C.
Michael De La Bastide
was appointed Chief Justice on May 31, 1995.
Justice De La Bastide was born on July 18, 1937 is married to Simone
nee Morgan and is the father of five. He
was awarded a Trinidad and Tobago Open Scholarship (Languages) in 1955 before
obtaining BA (Jurisprudence) with First Class Honours from Oxford University
in 1959. Mr. De La Bastide was called
to the Bar in February 1961 . He served
as Crown Counsel in the Office of the Attorney General from 1961 to 1963 before
entering private practice. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in January 1975.
Justice
De La Bastide was a member of the Wooding Constitution Commission, the Hyatali
Constitution Commission and served as an Independent member of the Senate
from 1976 to 1981. He also served
as President of Law Association for 3 terms from 1987 to 1990 and was a senior
partner in the firm of De La Bastide and Jacelon before his appointment as
Chief Justice.
Justice
de la Bastide is the recipient of the Trinity Cross (1996), honorary bencher,
Gray's Inn (1996), Honorary Sellow of Society for Advanced Legal Studies (2000)
Justice
de la Bastide played hockey and lawn tennis while at University and represented
this country at Hockey in Pan American Games in 1971 and at bridge in several
international tournaments between 1980 and 1995.