David Stubbs, son of the late MP, Cabinet minister and surgeon John Stubbs, has been Called to the Bar as the island’s latest lawyer, in a ceremony before Chief Justice Ian Kawaley.

Mr Stubbs, who joined Conyers Dill & Pearman in May, was introduced to the court by Stephanie Hanson, an associate in the firm’s litigation department.

Noting the Stubbs name’s long association with the realms of medicine and politics, Mr Justice Kawaley heard that the applicant’s older brother, Michael, had preceded him into law.

“The Stubbs brand is being polished and renewed today,” the Chief Justice said. “I am sure that your overseas experience in London and Moscow will stand you in good stead.”

Mr Stubbs declared himself “very happy to be back in Bermuda and to be at Conyers Dill & Pearman”, telling The Royal Gazette he looked forward to challenging legal work in a variety of areas.

His practice covers corporate and finance matters, including corporate insolvencies and restructurings.

Graduating with honours from the University of Buckingham in 2005, Mr Stubbs completed his legal practice course with distinction the following year at the Inns of Court School of Law, London. He was Called to the Bar in the UK as a solicitor in 2008.

But his earlier career background covered a variety of far-flung posts: after leaving Brown University in 1990, Mr Stubbs studied at Oxford with a Rhodes scholarship until 1992, then travelled to Kazakhstan for research, later intending to complete a master’s degree at Oxford in Russian and East European Studies.

His father’s cancer diagnosis intervened, however, and Mr Stubbs returned to the island in 1993 to work on the United Bermuda Party’s election campaign.

“In the spring of 1994, I worked closely with my father, both in a failed move to replace John Swan as party leader, and in connection with what became known as the Stubbs Bill,” he said.

After Dr Stubbs’ death, Mr Stubbs pursued a stint as a reporter for ZBM, then took up work with a United States cable TV corporation with posts in Moscow and Kazakhstan.

From 1995 to December 1996, working with the American Legal Consortium, a contractor for the United States Agency for International Development, Mr Stubbs travelled throughout Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan. At the close of 1996 he moved to Baku, Azerbaijan, to set up and manage the Azerbaijan branch of George Soros’ network of foundations, the Open Society Institute.

“I ran the foundation for nearly five years and grew it from an office with a computer and fax machine to something quite a bit bigger,” he said.

“We developed a network with US partners that provided the internet service to the National Library, Academy of Sciences and several of the main universities.”

Mr Stubbs later worked for Soros foundations across Central Asia, and managed the Global Internet Policy Initiative, before commencing his legal studies in 2002.

Joining the energy and insurance firm LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & McRae — later merging with Dewey Ballantyne to become Dewey & LeBoeuf — Mr Stubbs was posted to the firm’s Moscow office.

He later worked in London for the firm Cleary Gottlieb, from 2012 to 2017.

Welcoming Mr Stubbs to the Bermuda Bar, Mr Justice Kawaley’s only regret was that, as a “clearly corporate lawyer”, Mr Stubbs was unlikely to appear much before him.