New Director of Public Prosecutions Rory Field faces a tough job, with pressing needs including reforming the justice system and addressing a history of discontent within the department.

That was the reaction from members of the legal community to news that the highly-experienced British lawyer will take over from Bermudian Acting DPP Juan Wolffe next month.

According to defence lawyer Larry Scott, Mr. Field’s background in the UK and overseas — including a stint as DPP in Belize between 1999 and 2001 — may not have prepared him for the task ahead.

“Mr. Field has got to come and experience the Bermuda environment. If he comes from the more sophisticated environment in terms of the development of the system of justice in the UK, he’s coming to an old system.

“He’s going to be a little out of depth on that, and scratch his head and think ‘this must be the outback,’” speculated Mr. Scott, who claimed that “a lot of criminal law is out of date in terms of how criminal jurisprudence has evolved in the UK”.

Along with overseeing prosecutions, the DPP also advises the Police and other Government departments and assists with law reform. In this context, Mr. Scott pointed out that the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) is only partially implemented, despite being passed into law in December 2005.

Enacted in the UK in 1984, PACE will eventually replace the antiquated Judge’s Rules that govern the way the Bermuda Police Service operates, and modernise arrest and detention procedures and the searching and questioning of suspects.

“PACE is still pending and is only going in piecemeal at the moment, and he’s obviously going to be accustomed to that,” said Mr. Scott.

“He’s going to come to the conclusion ‘this is really the outback and really the colonies’ and ‘I thought you should have got rid of this a long time ago’.

“My advice to him is to quickly modernise the system and not be frustrated...he should work with the Attorney General with a view to modernising the criminal jurisprudence in Bermuda for the benefit of us all.”

The last DPP, Vinette Graham-Allen, was appointed in May 2004 by the Governor. A condition of her three-year contract was that she identified and trained a suitable Bermudian as a potential successor. However, Mrs. Graham-Allen, a Jamaican national, had a bumpy ride with a hard-hitting report in 2005 recommending buying her out of her contract and replacing her with a Bermudian. The report, by the Government Department of Management Services, saw her employees criticise her for an “autocratic” management style and complain of alleged favouritism in a department riven with division and periodic unrest. One observer said the legacy may be that Mr. Field finds handling his own staff his biggest challenge.

“Some of the Bermudians in the department have got attached to Mr. Wolffe, although they knew he was only there in the interim period (but) most people look forward in anticipation to the coming of this new individual. What I can observe is the fact that Mrs. Graham-Allen is gone has provided a more positive atmosphere in the office. Everyone seems to be more bubbly and upbeat.”

However, said the source, Mr. Field could encounter problems if he fails to win the support of staff working below him and address long-standing divisions.

“People are waiting with bated breath to see what happens, even though he’s quite competent, whether there will be pockets of alienation - the Bermudian corner and the non-Bermudians.”

The observer also said staff shortages may be a problem. The second-in-command position of Principal Crown Counsel remains vacant after the last two occupants quit within 48 hours of arrival and the department also lacks two Crown Counsels and has a number of relatively inexperienced Bermudian Junior Crown Counsels not yet ready to handle Supreme Court trials.

“The DPP is going to have his work cut out...the Bermudians are going to have to come up to speed quickly,” said the source.

Another source said a structured programme of training Bermudians for senior positions is necessary, to replace what they condemned as a culture of “cronyism” and neglect of this under Mrs. Graham-Allen. “It’s Bermudianisation — young Bermudians coming in and not being disappointed,” said the source. “I know quite a few people would return to the office of the DPP if the situation improves and others would be interested in joining, but even though Vinette Graham-Allen has gone it’s almost like a poisoned well there at the moment.”

Despite the potential challenges, former Attorney General Larry Mussenden expressed confidence that Mr. Field will be equal to the task. Having met him on a training course in Belize some years ago, he recalled him as being “a pleasant person who was easy to get along with”. He added: “I understand that Mr. Field has been practising in the UK and so it seems a practical approach to appoint him for a period of time since under my time Bermuda enacted a raft of legislation modelled on UK law such as the Bail Act, incorporated the UK Theft Act into our Criminal Code, passed bladed weapon legislation, updated the Misuse of Drugs Act and passed the PACE Act which now awaits being brought into force — something I would have done along with the Codes of Practice earlier this year without reservation,” he said. “I expect that Mr. Field will have extensive experience in all of these areas and that he will assist in a continued review and reform of our criminal law.”

He also expressed hope he will successfully train a Bermudian to take over from him.

Mr. Field was picked from a list of more than 50 applicants by a selection panel, including Chief Justice Richard Ground and Deputy Police Commissioner Roseanda Young, which recommended him to Governor Sir John Vereker.