Plans to share top prosecutors among the overseas territories for big cases have been welcomed by Bermuda?s Director of Prosecutions who has her own plans to send junior lawyers abroad to get experience. Asked about the prosecutor sharing plan agreed at the Overseas Territories Consultative Council in London last week, Vinette Graham-Allen said: ?It?s an excellent idea.?

She said the idea to free up prosecutors to move around had it had been muted by the International Association of Prosecutors. And she plans to start sending her staff away in the next financial year to work on attachments in jurisdictions which had similar legislation.

She said England and New South Wales in Australia could be likely candidates as they had laws similar to Bermuda?s Proceeds of Crime Act which allows prosecutors to recover assets from drug dealers. These secondments would allow Crown counsel to build up expertise said Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Ms Graham-Allen.

?They will not only train on prosecutions, they will build up human resources. If and when that happens prosecutors in Bermuda will be able to handle anything. Even when I am fully staffed I can only send one at a time based on their special interests.?

Two overseas Crown Counsel are also due to join the Department of Prosecutions as the DPP continues her plan to get her Bermudian lawyers up to speed to handle the big cases. Locals and expatriate lawyers will be paired up for cases with the Bermudian counsel sometimes taking the lead role in trials and their more experienced colleagues advising.

The DPP said she was waiting on immigration approval for two Crown Counsel ? one from Australia and another from Canada. ?They are senior persons, experienced in their profession.?

The department has yet to replace Principal Crown Juan Wolffe who left the department to become a magistrate. Ads for the position will be placed shortly. She said when that appointment is made her department would have 14 staff enabling it to reduce some of the backlog of cases.

?We still have a vacancy for a Crown Counsel specialist position for the Proceeds of Crime Act.?

The DPP also revealed she was continuing to push for an end to the long form preliminary inquiry. Such hearings, in which a magistrate assess if a case should go to trial in the Supreme Court are seen by many in the legal fraternity as an unnecessary time wasting.

?I am also hoping to improve the treatment and care of victims and witnesses,? said the DPP who declined to discuss details ahead of a meeting with the Attorney General.