Five attorneys sworn by Joint Court

December 16, 2011 6:46 AM

PHILIPSBURG--Five attorneys were sworn in by the Joint Court of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten, Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba on Wednesday morning.

Taking the oath were attorneys-at-law Fehmi Kutluer, Peter van Dort, Rob Beeris, Marieke Quist and Hedy Kockx.

Kockx's swearing-in was remarkable, because the Joint Court had previously declined her admittance to the Bar in February, because she allegedly would have maintained friendly relationships with two convicted criminals.

She was found smoking marijuana in the house of convicted criminal Devon Otto, who was sentenced on appeal to 30 years for the murder of Stanley Gumbs, among other crimes, in December 2010.

Police officers did not only find the attorney in Otto's presence, but also in the presence of the gun that Otto had used to kill Gumbs, as well as a marijuana plant.

In its February 8 decision, the Joint Court stated that Kockx had displayed "a far-reaching level of naiveté," that her professional independence as an attorney would be insufficiently guaranteed and that her admission would damage the honour of the legal profession.

In the meantime, the Joint Court reconsidered its position and came to the conclusion that Kockx, who had studied law at the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands and who had been employed at the Bloem Law Office since March 2010, was now fit to be admitted to the Bar.

Kockx jumped to the occasion and immediately after Wednesday's ceremony, joined her colleague attorney-at-law Jairo Bloem in defending R.S.L., who stood trial on the alleged involvement in the armed robbery of an adult entertainment centre in Simpson Bay (see related story).

Also sworn in Wednesday was Fehmi Kutluer, attorney at law at Lexwell Attorneys, who graduated in 2009 at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. He specialises in European Law and intellectual property law, more specifically trade mark law and parallel import. He joined Lexwell in October, and works in the general practice and will handle most of the firm's intellectual property cases.

Peter van Dort is an attorney at VanEps, Kunneman, VanDoorne law office, which opened a branch in St. Maarten last month. Van Dort specialises in business law. He has been general counsel at telecom company TelEm.

Since August, Marieke Quist has also been working for VanEps, Kunneman, VanDoorne. She started her career as legal advisor to the Island Government of Saba. She was also Acting Island Secretary from January 2010 until August 2011. She graduated at the University of Amsterdam in 2009.

Rob Beeris is working for the Bergman, Zwanikken, Snow, Essed law firm. He studied law at Leiden University in the Netherlands. Besides being a general practitioner, he specialises in intellectual property and Internet law.

(Source: The Daily Herald)

16 December 2011