President of the Grenada Bar Association (GBA), Ruggles Ferguson has survived a challenge to his leadership that was allegedly inspired by the ruling New National Party (NNP) government of Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Mitchell.

According to well-placed sources, the challenge came at last Thursday¹s election for a new executive of the bar association which Ferguson has been heading for the past five years.

A source close to the bar told GRENADA TODAY that the GBA President had to pull out all the stock to beat back Avril Trotman-Joseph, wife of Speaker of the House of Representatives, Lawrence Joseph, a former deputy political leader of the ruling party.

Several of the lawyers involved in Ciboney Chambers of which Ferguson is a leading member are known to be associated with the main opposition, National Democratic Congress (NDC).

The source spoke of House Speaker Joseph, a lawyer himself, attending the highly charged meeting that took place at the No. 1 High Court in St. George¹s. He said it was the first time that Joseph was seen in nearly a decade attending a meeting of the bar.

The source pointed out that the husband of Trotman-Joseph "attempted to lecture lawyers on the procedures to be used for voting". Supporters of both Ferguson and Trotman-Joseph were said to be engaged in heavy campaigning among lawyers for their crucial votes several days before the election took place.

Lawyers living outside the country were allowed to cast proxy votes in the election. Ferguson ended up victorious by inflicting a 59-27 defeat on the Guyana born Trotman-Joseph, a former Solicitor-General under Mitchell¹s NNP regime. The female attorney also lost 54-26 to barrister-at-law, Jimmy Bristol for the post of 1st Vice-President of GBA.

The female Guyanese lawyer reportedly met stiff opposition from her colleagues who felt that she had not served long enough in private practice after leaving the government to be considered for the top GBA post. The source said that the pro-Ferguson group of lawyers regarded the challenge from Trotman-Joseph as nothing but an attempt by the Mitchell government to try and capture the influential bar association.

He recalled the role played by the bar to get the Judicial and Legal Services Commission (JLCS) to reject government¹s bid to have controversial Jamaican lawyer, Hugh Wildman appointed to the post of Attorney-General. GBA is fearful that Wildman, the current legal advisor to Cabinet, who has been engaged in several bruising battles with local lawyers over the years, could have also ended up as Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) once in the AG chair.

The lawyers were able to convince JLCS that Wildman¹s behaviour and attitude were not in keeping with that of someone  holding high judicial post on the island. According to the source, it was important for local lawyers to maintain the status quo within GBA out of fear that a Trotman-Joseph Presidency might have seen government make a renewed effort to have Wildman appointed as the Attorney-General.

Several local lawyers are suspicious that Wildman in the post of Attorney General and Director of Public Prosecutions would seek to protect Prime Minister Mitchell who is facing allegations of accepting a substantial bribery payment from imprisoned international con-man Eric Resteiner in exchange for a diplomatic position.