Retired, but maintaining a Faculty link with the Caribbean

Five years after being admitted to the Faculty of Advocates, Angus Foster thought a move abroad would help to broaden his international legal experience.

He went to work in the Cayman Islands, intending to give it a try in the western Caribbean for a couple of years. Now, more than 35 years later, he has stepped down as one of the British Overseas Territory’s senior judges.

It was in 1975 that Mr Foster, after devilling to David Hope (later Lord Hope of Craighead), joined the Scottish Bar with the likes of Donald Findlay, Angus Stewart (Lord Stewart) and Roderick Macdonald (Lord Uist).

He practised mostly in commercial matters, and then decided on the move to the CaymanIslands where he was admitted as attorney-at-law and found the work interesting and enjoyable, so much so that he was happy to put down roots.

In 2007, he was appointed an Acting Judge of the Grand Court, and two years later he became a Permanent Judge, Justice Angus Foster, QC, and one of the three inaugural judges of the newly-established Financial Services Division of the Grand Court, the post from which he has retired.

“I remain based in the Cayman Islands but spend time at our home in Perthshire, and maintain friendships with several former colleagues at the Scottish Bar, all now retired, in particular, Lord Kingarth, former Sheriff Norrie Stein and former Sheriff Principal Bruce Kerr,” said Mr Foster.

“When I went to Cayman I fully expected to return to the Bar in two years; I never thought that I would still be there over 35 years later or that I would become a judge there.”