More on departures from the AG's Department

The Daily Observer of June 18, 2008 and the Sunday Herald of June 22 have both highlighted the resignation of Nicole Foster-Pusey within the context of the spate of resignations from the AG's Department since the AG took office.

In the Observer's story entitled 'Stop the Wild Allegations', the AG laughably denies that any of the resignations have anything to do with her. According to the AG:

"I don't know anything about resignations, speak to the Solicitor General. I don't know anything about tension, I wish the media would stop with these wild allegations and go to source,"; and

"Persons who resigned spoke with him (Solicitor General) and gave their reasons for leaving. I'm seeing names I don't even know. I've never met the people,"



Who does the AG think she is kidding? So how does she explain almost a dozen lawyers leaving the AG's Chambers since her arrival? I also gather that significant numbers of support personnel have also left in the wake of Hurricane Dorothy. How can AG credibly claim not to know about the resignations or the tension (to put it mildly) that has existed between her and the staff? How does she explain the resignation of Patrick Foster before his contract ended? How does she explain the timing of his resignation? Patrick resigned right after his recommendation of Nicole Foster-Pusey as acting Solicitor General was overruled. Is Hurricane Dorothy pretending that she has never assailed the members of AG Department as supporters/sympathizers of the PNP or that doing so is likely to create 'tension'??? What about her throwing some members of her staff under the bus? She was quite happy to call Stephen Vasciannie's name in the Senate when he was completely unable to defend himself regarding the letter of advice on the Trafigura matter. What about Nicole Foster-Pusey and the Dabdoub litigation? Let's talk about wild allegations for a moment. Was it not the AG herself who early in her term openly accused staff lawyers of being PNP supporters/sympathizers?


I know as a fact that the AG has been in meetings with some of those who have now resigned or left. How can she feign ignorance of not knowing these members of staff? Is she claiming, for example, that she doesn't know Nicole Lambert, who recently left a senior position in the Chambers? Apart from being untruthful, the AG seems to think it a point of pride to not know who her staff lawyers are. What a great pretence from one who publicly arrogated the right to intervene in personnel matters that are usually left to the Solicitor General.


In the same Observer report, the new Solicitor General has apparently become the AG's spinmeister. He declined to say how many persons had resigned since the AG took office, but "expressed a difficulty in understanding why she was being held liable for the spate of resignations". Is Douglas for real?? According to Douglas, "The Attorney General has nothing to do with it, why are they calling her? She is the political head!" The SG also denied that the resignations had anything to do with the behaviour of his new boss. In this regard, this is what the AG's new spinmeister had to say:


"Let me put an end to that; I took office in May and I had a meeting with the attorney general and we have agreed for a formula going forward which means the office would operate in much the same way it did when Dr Ken Rattray was Solicitor General. [This means] the attorney general would be responsible for policy and advising government and the technical legal office would advise her on the technical legal implications of whatever policy the government is pursuing.
That's the formula we had, that's the formula I intend to abide by and that's the formula which the attorney general has agreed to,"


Now let's see, Douglas. If the AG had already been observing the division of labour between her office and that of the SG, why was it necessary for you to meet and agree on a 'formula' for going forward?? Is it not implicit in your own words that the AG was not following this formula before, and hence the need to re-establish it? If the AG had been religiously following this formula throughout her reign, do you, Douglas, believe that you would've been appointed SG? Had this formula been applied, do you believe that the AG would've had the audacity to derail the appointment of Stephen Vasciannie and procure the dismissal of the PSC? If the AG had behaved like all her predecessors, do you seriously believe that a dozen people or more would've left the Chambers in under a year? Do you believe that Patrick Foster would've resigned a mere months before his contract was scheduled to end, if the AG had always behaved in accordance with this formula? Why would Patrick give up a gratuity if things were so hunky-dory in the Chambers? Who do you think was responsible for rescinding the appointment of Nicole Foster-Pusey as acting Deputy Solicitor General? Patrick? Give me a break, Douglas, neither you nor the AG have a monopoly on intelligence, so stop playing us all as fools.

Douglas Leys also claims that none of the resignees has cited difficulties with Hurricane Dorothy as a reason for leaving. Now let's examine this. If anybody had in fact mentioned this as a reason to Douglas, would he be disclosing this to the press? I think not. In any event, as Douglas well knows, people often don't cite the real reasons for leaving a job. Further, does anybody really need to cite Hurricane Dorothy as a reason when it's so obvious??? Let's get real. We are talking about an AG who, unlike her predecessors, has publicly asserted the right and the authority to interfere with personnel decisions, and indeed operational decisions that are usually within the purview of the SG.

In its front page article of Sunday Herald of June 22, 2008 entitled Government Backtracks, there is the incredible story of Nicole Foster-Pusey being compelled to recant an undertaking not to seek costs against Abe Dabdoub, following his election litigation against Daryl Vaz. I can't help but reproduce the relevant portions below:


There are more indications that political interference could have triggered last week’s sudden resignation of director of litigation at the Attorney General’s Department, Nicole Foster-Pusey.

Based on documentary evidence, Foster-Pusey was recently directed to rescind a commitment she gave to attorneys who represented Abe Dabdoub in the dual citizen trial, that the AG’s Department would not pursue legal costs against their client as ordered by Chief Justice Zeila McCalla.

The Sunday Herald obtained documents indicating that Foster-Pusey received instructions from her immediate boss, Solicitor General, Douglas Leys, to rescind the commitment.

In a letter dated May 21, 2008, Foster-Pusey had informed Gayle Nelson & Company, attorneys for Dabdoub, that the AG’s Department would not be “pursuing the award of costs outlined in the judgement”.

However, two weeks later, in a letter to the said law firm, dated June 5, Foster-Pusey said: “I am advised that at the time I made these arrangements, I had no instructions from the Solicitor General and the Attorney General.


“The Solicitor General is awaiting instructions from the Attorney General as to how the government would proceed on this issue.” That gave a clear indication that the changed position had emanated from the Attorney General or higher up the political ladder.

On June 12, Gayle Nelson & Company responded, describing Foster-Pusey’s latter correspondence as “astounding”.

“We are therefore entitled, obliged and compelled to rely on any undertaking or assurance given by you in a matter over which you have conduct, and our client intends to so rely, not only on your statements made before the Chief Justice, but also your letter of 21st May,” the law firm stated.

The letter continued: ”We take this opportunity to point out to you that any withdrawal of your position is to be considered a serious breach of ethics, contrary to the cannons of the profession, and which may very well result in a report to the Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council by our client.”

Foster-Pusey replied on June 16, stating that: “ I can offer no further clarification, but anticipate that as indicated in the June 5 letter, instructions will be issued by the Solicitor General in due course.”

The former director of litigation made it clear that she acted within her powers.
“I wish to make it clear that at the time I stated my position on the issue of costs, it was my understanding that in my capacity…I had the full power and authority to do so without the need of instructions from either the Solicitor General or the Attorney General.”

Over the years, Foster-Pusey added, “I have made many such directions in my capacity as the attorney with conduct of a matter, team leader in the Chambers,...since 2002 and various periods thereafter.”


So, in summary, Nicole Foster-Pusey has been thrown under the bus but both the AG and the SG, for doing nothing more than her job. As director of litigation, why on earth should she require express instructions not to pursue costs? The Dabdoub v Vaz case was not one in which the government was direct/named party. The government appeared as a friend of the court, as I understand it. This makes it even more bizarre that the AG/SG would now expose Mrs. Foster-Pusey to a disciplinary proceedings before the General Legal Council? It's unconscionable. Under such circumstances, what could Nicole Foster-Pusey do other than to resign?


The spectre of the Vasciannie/PSC imbroglio continues to haunt the AG's Department, however the AG and the SG want to pretend that all is well. The main problem is that the public, and indeed the legal profession simply doesn't care enough about what is happening in the Chambers to speak out and demand better from those who claim to serve the public interest.