Carlene was admitted to practice in Jamaica in November 2000 and has carried on an extensive and successful practice as a civil litigator at both the private and public bars. In recognition of her excellence at the Bar and contribution to the legal profession, Carlene was elevated to the rank of Queen’s Counsel in July 2021.
She has appeared in major litigation in courts at all levels of jurisdiction including the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Prior to joining the firm Carlene was Director of Litigation in the Attorney General’s Chambers where she headed the Litigation Division and thereafter a consultant in litigation at a well-established law firm in Jamaica.
She has held senior roles as Supervising Attorney in contentious civil litigation involving major commercial entities including the execution of search warrants on financial institutions and public figures whilst at the Attorney General Chambers.
Carlene serves as a Member of the Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council and sits on that Council’s Protection of Clients’ Assets Committee. She is Chairman of the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the Jamaican Bar Association, and has lectured, tutored and provided clinics in Civil Practice & Procedure and Trial Advocacy at the Norman Manley Law School for over a decade.
Carlene is the head of the firm’s Litigation Department
Damien DaCosta was admitted to the Jamaica Bar in December 2012. He holds a B.Sc. (Physics) (Hons) degree and an LL.B (Hons) (First Class) degree both granted by the University of the West Indies, in 2001 and 2010 respectively. He is also a graduate of the Norman Manley Law School.
Damien’s practice focuses on Corporate and Commercial Law. He has represented local and overseas financial institutions and local securities market participants in a wide variety of commercial and corporate transactions including matters with technical and engineering elements. Damien has also represented clients in corporate restructuring, take-overs, joint ventures, real estate transactions, public security offerings (including IPOs and secondary public offerings) and listings on the Main and Junior Markets of the Jamaica Stock Exchange.
Sharon’s practice spans some 30 years over which she has acquired a wide range of commercial law experience providing advice to different types of businesses across a gamut of industries in Jamaica.
Prior to joining the firm in 2005 she held legal and managerial positions with a statutory body and a large private sector conglomerate in Jamaica with substantial business interests in housing development, manufacturing, distribution and financial services. Her diverse corporate client base is testimony to the strength and depth of her commercial law knowledge. She advises corporate clients involved in the manufacturing, banking, insurance and property management industries on a range of commercial contracts that impact their businesses and at all times with acute understanding of their needs.
Sharon has significant experience in the area of Employment Law, specifically: drafting employment related documentation, training management and supervisory staff. Preparing advice and drafting opinions on employment regulatory issues; termination and disciplinary matters, all employment related aspects of mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and reorganizations. Contentious employment matters are supported by the Litigation Department. She also leads the Estate Administration and Planning practice of the firm and provides clients with guidance when navigating issues of probate and administration of the personal assets of their loved ones.
Lynda has been in practice for almost 43 years, both in private practice and as in-house counsel.
She is a Commercial and Real Estate lawyer with significant experience in domestic and cross-border work inclusive of: mergers and acquisitions; take-overs; restructurings (with special expertise in restructuring of family-owned businesses and bond buy-backs in international transactions); capital raising and securitization transactions (including on the overseas markets); complex commercial litigation and real property, including residential property development and construction financing, with some selected matters listed below:
Government divestments of agricultural enterprises, both for Government of Jamaica and Private Investors;
Local Counsel in a substantial debt issue registered with the United States Securities & Exchange Commission;
Tender Offer under NY law and subsequent application for approval of Scheme of Arrangement under Jamaican law;
Restructuring of large, privately held Jamaican commercial, industrial & property development conglomerate over a 5-year period;
Enforcement of terms of Shareholders’ Agreement in privately-held family enterprise;
Acquisition and subsequent divestment of well-known coffee manufacturing entity in Jamaica by local publicly listed entities;
Acquisition of interest in Caribbean-wide tourism entertainment product by a local listed investment trust;
Local Counsel for Jamaican bank in North American IPO;
Acted as instructing attorney for successful claimant in local case which decided that the proceeds of a re-insurance policy should be paid directly to claimant and not to the bankrupt insurer.
She has also acted for real estate developers in relation to a variety of housing developments, including a middle-income 1,100 unit mixed villa, apartment and townhouse development at Priory, St Ann and developments in Kingston and St Andrew, ranging between 15 to 54 units in development size.
Lynda has served in the following capacities over the last 40 years:
Chairman, Adoption Board of Jamaica since 2016;
Member, Advisory Board of the Child Protection and Family Services Advisory Board (formerly the Child Development Agency) since 2016;
Member of the Oversight Committee seeing to the merger of the Child Development Agency and the Office of the Children’s Registry since 2017;
Member of the Oversight Committee seeing to the merger of the CPFSA and the NPCC since 2018;
Board Member of the Stella Maris Foundation since 2019 and Chairman of the Board since 2020.
Honorary Assistant Secretary, Jamaican Bar Association (1983-1986);
Member, Medical Council of Jamaica (1990-1997 and 2009- 2012);
Board Member, Kingston Restoration Company Limited (1993-1997);
Trevor Patterson, the Senior Partner of the Firm, has practiced in Jamaica for more than forty four years within a wide range of commercial law areas including shipping, insurance, banking, telecommunications and taxation.
In recent years, Trevor has focused his practice in the areas of corporate finance, securities law, foreign direct investment and taxation. He has been the lead lawyer in several IPOs and in major take-over transactions involving both public and private companies.
Trevor has been consistently ranked over several years by Chambers and Partners as a Star Individual – General Business Law. He is considered a pre-eminent figure in commercial law.
Publications
Aircraft Finance (contributor): Sweet & Maxwell, London
Aircraft Liens & Detention Rights (contributor): Sweet & Maxwell, London.
Kimberly HoSue was admitted to practice in Jamaica in December 2010. She holds a LL.B (Hons) degree from the University of the West Indies (2010) and is a graduate of the Norman Manley Law School
Since joining the firm in August 2010, Kimberly’s practice has grown considerably and she has been involved in a variety of significant high-value corporate/commercial matters particularly in relation to financing arrangements and asset acquisitions. She has also participated in the execution of several public offers of securities (IPOs and APOs) and listings on the Main Market and Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange. As a lead attorney and as part of a practice team she has assisted Arrangers (over a sustained period of many years) in and towards the implementation of Bond, Note and Preference Share issues. Her current practice concentration is in financial services in relation to conventional and structured financial arrangements, but her work extends to corporate/commercial law matters generally (including trademark law matters).
Kimberly was admitted to the partnership on January 1, 2021.
Dane Patterson holds a B.A. degree in Economics from Cornell University, and a LLB (First Class Honours) degree from University College London and a M.Sc. (Oxon) degree in Corporate Finance and Tax Law, awarded jointly by the Law Faculty and Saïd Business School at Oxford University.
He was called to the English Bar at Lincoln’s Inn in 2013 and to the Jamaican Bar in July 2014 after being awarded the Certificate of Legal Education from the Norman Manley Law School.
Since joining the firm, Dane has acted both as junior and lead attorney in a variety of corporate transactions including a number of corporate financings including IPOs and APOs and both public and private takeovers. Dane also has local expertise in corporate restructurings including debt restructuring, debt-equity swaps and corporate re-organizations using schemes of arrangement.
Arthur Hamilton was admitted to the Jamaican Bar in 1982, the Ontario Bar in 2002 and the Cayman Islands Bar in 2003. He has carried on highly successful corporate/commercial law practices in each of the above-mentioned jurisdictions.
Arthur has wide corporate/commercial law experience in mergers, take-overs, asset sales, financing transactions (conventional and structured), project finance transactions, banking documentation, construction agreements and construction financing arrangements, capital raising issues and conveyancing matters. He also has significant expertise in the drafting of a broad range of corporate/commercial documentation.
Arthur has been ranked over several years by Chambers and Partners and is currently recognized in Band 1 (General Business Law) based on, inter alia, technical legal ability and client service.
Arthur is a Notary Public for Ontario (Canada) and Jamaica.
