CONSTITUTIONAL
REVIEW COMMISSION

Mrs. Lisa Penn-Lettsome

Mrs. Lisa Penn-Lettsome is the Chairman of the Constitutional Review Commission. She recently completed a 3-year term as the Executive Director of International Business with the Government of the Virgin Islands. This follows 13 years as Senior Counsel and Head of Regulation with an international law firm. Mrs. Penn-Lettsome is no stranger to public service having previously held the positions of Deputy Registrar of High Court, Acting Magistrate, Registrar of Companies, Deputy Managing Director of the Financial Services Commission and Acting Deputy Governor of the Virgin Islands. 

She is also a past President of the BVI Bar Association, first chairman of the Financial Investigations Agency and first Secretary of the BVI Reporting Authority and has served on numerous Boards and committees.

Mrs. Lisa Penn-Lettsome holds a Master of Laws from the School of Financial Services of the University of New South Wales, Australia, a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the University of the West Indies, and an International Diploma in Compliance from the University of Manchester Business School and the International Compliance Association.

Sir Charles Michael Dennis Byron

The Right Honourable Sir Dennis Byron served as president of the Caribbean Court of Justice from 2011 to 2015. He has recently retired. He is also a former Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. 

Whilst at the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, Mr. Justice Byron promoted the establishment of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Judicial Reform Programme. He launched the Judicial Education Institute which, amongst other things, produced a Code of Ethics for Judges. This Programme was followed by modernisation court practices and the introduction of the new Civil Procedure Rules 2000.

In March 2001, Mr. Justice Byron was a member of an international delegation of jurists who travelled to Zimbabwe on a fact‐finding mission on behalf of the Human Rights Institute of the International Bar Association, inquiring into reports of abuses against the rule of law by the Government of Zimbabwe. 

Among several other of his distinctions include his previous appointment as a Judge of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (June 2004), President of the Tribunal (2007 and 2009), and member of the Privy Council (2004). 

Ms. Maya Barry

Maya M. Barry is a Virgin Islander who currently serves as Principal Crown Counsel in the Civil Division of the Attorney General’s Chambers, Government of the Virgin Islands. As part of the Attorney General’s team Ms. Barry, inter alia, has specialist experience in dealing with administrative and constitutional law matters. As Principal Crown Counsel, Ms. Barry routinely provides legal advice to His Excellency, the Governor, the Cabinet and the various ministries and departments of Government. She also regularly appears as counsel before the High Court and Court of Appeal in litigation for and on behalf of the Government. She has also represented the Government before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Ms. Barry earned a Bachelor of Laws (Hons.) from Cardiff University Law School in June 2009 and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Law (Bar Vocational Course) from the same institution in July 2010. She was called to the Bar of England and Wales by the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn in March 2011.

Ms. Barry joined the Civil Service of the Virgin Islands in November 1993, and held various positions in the administrative hierarchy of the Attorney General’s Chambers, prior to reading law and commencing practice as a barrister in the Virgin Islands. Ms. Barry has also served on several statutory boards and been a part of various community service organisations. She is also a Notary Public in the Virgin Islands.

Mrs. Tanya Cassie-Parker

Tanya Cassie-Parker is a lawyer and managing partner of the BVI office of global law firm, Harneys. She also serves as member of the firm’s Executive Committee (the body that has oversight of the firm’s global business), the firm’s Corporate Social Responsibility Committee and has been a trainer and a mentor in the firm’s Professional Development Programme– a programme for training junior lawyers.

Ms. Cassie-Parker was admitted to the Bar of the British Virgin Islands (practising) in 1999, admitted to the Bar of Jamaica (non-practising) in 2001, and registered as a Foreign Lawyer in Hong Kong in 2005. She has since been ranked by IFLR 1000 as a Leading Lawyer in the British Virgin Islands and recognised in their Women Leaders 2022 guide. Ms. Cassie-Parker is also a Member of Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, holder of an Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators Diploma in Offshore Finance and Administration, and he holder of an International Compliance Association Diploma in Compliance (Graduate).