Delroy Duncan KC

Director (Litigation)

Specialises in Litigation
(441) 295 7444
dduncan@td.bm
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I was honoured to receive the appointment as Queen’s Counsel in a ceremony at Westminster Hall in London, but my overriding sentiment is one of deep gratitude for the people whose contributions and example helped to shape my personal and professional life trajectory.

Delroy is a Director and Founding Partner of Trott & Duncan. In March 2020, he was appointed Queen’s Counsel in England in recognition of a distinguished international career that began when he was called to the Bar of England and Wales in London in 1984. Delroy has been extensively involved in litigation arising out of company and commercial disputes, public law and constitutional law cases and human rights issues.

Delroy is highly regarded for his extensive public law experience, advising and appearing in the leading constitutional, judicial review and labour dispute cases both for and against the Bermuda Government, as well as governments in the Caribbean including BVI, Turks and Caicos Islands and Antigua.

Delroy has appeared in over 100 reported cases in the Supreme Court of Bermuda, the Court of Appeal of Bermuda, the Court of Appeal of the United Kingdom and Her Majesty’s Privy Council.

Commercial litigation

Re Jardine Strategic Holdings Limited [2024] CA (Bda) 7 Civ and [2023] CA (Bda) 7 Civ – instructed for a number of the dissenter shareholders in s.106 (fair value) proceedings. There are two cases: (1) an application to strike out fair value appraisal claims by parties that had acquired shares with the knowledge that the company would shortly be amalgamated; and (2) the scope of the joint interest privilege enjoyed by the shareholders and former shareholders over legal advice obtained by the company. Delroy is instructed in the appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council listed for 5-6 March 2025.

APS Holding Corporation v Sumitomo Parma UK Holdings Ltd [2025] SC (Bda) 16 civ- appeared for dissenter shareholders in s. 106 (fair value) proceedings seeking declarations in respect of company disclosure obligations including electronic messages on platforms such as WeChat and Signal.

SiriusPoint Ltd v Endurance Worldwide Insurance Ltd, Liberty Corporate Capital (Two) Limited and Others [2024] Bda LR 27 – instructed for a public company operating as an insurance provider subject to investor threats claiming $362,000,000. The public company sought a more customized approach to disclosure in document-heavy complex commercial cases and specific discovery of metadata as a standardized part of the disclosure of electronic documents.

Griffin Line General Trading Ltd v Templar Capital Limited [2023] SC (Bda) 24 Civ – appeared for Templar Capital Limited in the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal in relation varying a worldwide freezing order, fortification of the undertaking in damages and security for costs.

Corbin Erisa Opportunity Fund Limited & ors v Argo Group International Holdings Inc [2024] SC (Bda) 69 Civ – represents the dissenting shareholders in s.106 (fair value) proceedings and resisted a stay of proceedings pending the outcome of the Privy Council proceedings in Jardine.

Constitutional and judicial review

Corporation of Hamilton v The Governor and The Attorney General [2022] CA (Bda) 6 Civ and [2023] CA (Bda) 1 Civ – appeared for the Governor and the Attorney General in the Court of Appeal and recently in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Dr. Ewart Brown v The Director of Public Prosecutions, Deputy Governor and the Attorney General [judgment pending] –appeared for the former Premier of Bermuda challenging the constitutionality of an oversight group comprised of the respondents directing a criminal investigation.

Commission of Inquiry into Historic Land Losses in Bermuda [2025] CA (Bda) 2 Civ; [2024] CA (Bda) 6 Civ and [2024] CA (Bda) 28 Civ – appeared for the Commission of Inquiry in the Court of Appeal on 4 judicial review applications.

Brewster v the Premier [2021] SC (Bda) 45 Civ and [2021] SC (Bda) 57 Civ – represented the Premier and Minister of Health against a constitutional challenge to the Covid-19 regulations. The legal issues included the proper role of expert witnesses, the correct test for an injunction on a constitutional motion and the proportionality test in constitutional motions.

Bermuda Prison Officers’ Association v Minister of National Security [2020] SC (Bda) Civ – represented the BPOA in the case involving the proper jurisdiction of the Labour Disputes Tribunal and challenging the removal of the prison officers’ contractual right to medical care and attention.

Tucker v Board of Education [2020] CA (Bda) 12 Civ –represented the Board of Education in a challenge to the Board’s recommendation for Commissioner of Education.

Delroy has been a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators since 1997 and sits on local and international arbitrations both as a sole arbitrator and as a member of a panel of arbitrators. He is certified as a trained mediator (Notre Dame Law School, Indiana, 2008), Social Justice Mediator (Social Justice Mediation Institute, Bermuda 2013) and Human Rights mediator. Delroy’s extensive human rights experience has resulted in him acting for the Bermuda Human Rights Commission in various cases and being regularly appointed as a Human Rights mediator.

In January 2016, Delroy was appointed as an Assistant Justice of the Supreme Court of Bermuda. Since the appointment Delroy has handed down judgments in reported commercial and constitutional cases including – Re Full Apex (Holdings) Limited [2020] Bda LR 19 Com, an application by shareholder for substitution of the petitioner in which the court considered whether a shareholder can use a contingent claim in proceedings to obtain substitution, and, Robinson and Wallington v Director of Public Prosecutions and AG [2019] Bda LR in which the court addressed the right of defendants in criminal proceedings to be tried within a reasonable time under section 6(1)of the Bermuda Constitution,the delay between charge and conclusion of retrial calculating the delay, relevance of complexity of the case and conduct of the defence and the judicial and administrative authorities.

Delroy is an Associate Member of Cloisters Chambers, which is an esteemed public law set where he completed pupillage and secured tenancy, former President of the Bermuda Bar Association, and a Member of the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn.

Education

  • London Metropolitan University
  • London School of Economics and Political Science

Publications

Offshore Commercial Law in Bermuda Second Edition- Contributor of the chapter Enforcement of Judgments in Bermuda.

Notable Cases

Employers’ Innovative Network, INC v Bridgeport Benefits, INC & Capital Security, Ltd

In the Matter of an Arbitration Pursuant to The Bermuda International Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1993
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Employers’ Innovative Network, INC v Voluntary Benefit Specialists, LLC & Universal Risk Intermediaries, INC

In the Matter of an Arbitration Pursuant to The Bermuda International Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1993
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Amalgamation Agreement Between JMH Investment Limited and JMH Bermuda Limited and Jardine Strategic Holdings Limited

Representation of shareholders seeking appraisal of fair value of their shares under section106 (6) of the Companies Act 1981- Discovery of documents in the possession of the companies- Whether documents of subsidiary within the possession custody or power of the parent company - whether legally enforceable right to obtain inspection of another’s documents existed - existence of arrangement or understanding whereby the parent company had a right to inspect the documents of another company established. Scope of privilege - joint interest privilege - relationship between company and shareholder - date on which hostile litigation within the reasonable contemplation of the parties.
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Latest Judgements

Williams and another v Stableford and The Attorney General

Representation of lawyer and police officer who commenced proceedings for malicious prosecution against a police inspector- police inspector applied to strike out claim for malicious prosecution without reasonable and probable cause- whether pleaded allegations of malice and dishonesty disclose no reasonable cause of action and are vexatious and an abuse of process-whether the pleaded claims seek to avoid immunity afforded to witnesses and are vexatious and an abuse of process-whether the Attorney General is properly named as a party to the proceedings.
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Amalgamation Agreement Between JMH Investment Limited and JMH Bermuda Limited and Jardine Strategic Holdings Limited

Representation of shareholders seeking appraisal of fair value of their shares under section106 (6) of the Companies Act 1981- Discovery of documents in the possession of the companies- Whether documents of subsidiary within the possession custody or power of the parent company - whether legally enforceable right to obtain inspection of another’s documents existed - existence of arrangement or understanding whereby the parent company had a right to inspect the documents of another company established. Scope of privilege - joint interest privilege - relationship between company and shareholder - date on which hostile litigation within the reasonable contemplation of the parties.
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Ewart Brown v DPP, AG and Deputy Governor

Application for recusal of trial judge on grounds of appearance of bias.
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Corbin Erisa Opportunity Fund Limited & ors v Argo Group International Holdings

Representation of shareholders seeking appraisal of fair value of their shares under section 106 (6) of the Companies Act 1981; whether to grant a stay on case management grounds; the company applied for a stay pending the decision in unrelated Privy Council proceedings of similar legal issues; distinguishing cases involving separate sets of proceedings where the parties and factual and legal issues are substantially the same.
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Piper and Davis v The Premier and Commission of Inquiry

The Court of Appeal considered: (a) whether the terms of reference were ultra vires because of their breadth; (b) the test for whether a misdirection is material; (c) whether Commissions of Inquiry had an implied power to limit the scope of inquiry; (d) whether a misdirection can give rise to a claim for damages in judicial review proceedings.
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Piper and others v The Premier and Commission of Inquiry

This was a case management hearing before a full Court of Appeal in the Commission of Inquiry litigation but raised important points of law and procedure. The Court of Appeal considered: (a) whether leave is required to appeal against a decision refusing leave to bring judicial review proceedings; (b) the principles applicable to protective costs orders and waiver of security and Court of Appeal fees; (c) if leave to bring judicial review proceedings is granted on appeal whether the Court of Appeal can determined the judicial review application.
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Employers’ Innovative Network, INC v Voluntary Benefit Specialists, LLC & Universal Risk Intermediaries, INC

In the Matter of an Arbitration Pursuant to The Bermuda International Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1993
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CI2 Aviation Bermuda Limited v Permanent Arbitration Tribunal [2022] SC (Bda) 26 Civ

Delroy Duncan KC and Ryan Hawthorne were instructed by the Bermuda Public Service Union (representing the former employees of CI2) to intervene in these judicial review proceedings, which were an appeal against a decision of the Permanent Arbitration Tribunal in relation to its interpretation of section 23 of the Employment Act 2000 (the Act), namely whether severance pay is payable to an employee where he is offered “re-employment by the employer”.
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Active Equity Holdings Ltd & 4 Ors v The Registrar of Companies [2022] SC (Bda) 64 Civ (31 August 2022)

Delroy Duncan KC and Ryan Hawthorne were instructed by the Registrar of Companies. The case involved judicial review proceedings against the decision of the Registrar to register certificates of cancellation and issue certificates of deposit in relation to limited and exempted partnerships under the Limited Partnerships Act 1883 (LPA) and the Exempted Partnerships Act 1992 (EPA). The Judgment considers the interplay between statutory interpretation and public law.
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Corporation of Hamilton v Attorney General and Governor of Bermuda [2022] CA (Bda) Civ 6

Delroy Duncan KC and Ryan Hawthorne were instructed by the Attorney General and Governor of Bermuda in the Court of Appeal. The Corporation of Hamilton was represented by Sir. Jeffrey Jowell KCMG KC. The appeal involved a number of significant constitutional issues such as: (1) the enforcement of section 1 of the Constitution; (2) the scope of protection of the law within section 1 of the Constitution; (3) the significance of the rule of law when applying the Constitution; (4) the scope of the right to freedom of expression and whether it incorporates the right to vote in a municipal election; and (5) the scope of the deprivation of property provisions in section 13 of the Constitution.
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What Delroy thinks

On what sets Trott & Duncan apart

We have a strong litigation department at all levels and a long history of doing both local and international work. We maintain a substantial local practice, while still earning a noticeable presence in international work for trust, insolvency and company law. We have a strong commercial practice, we are also the preeminent firm on the island for labour relations, constitutional law and judicial review. On the transactional side, the firm has a niche clientele for probate and conveyancing because we have an attentive and caring private client team. We are very much embedded in the community. People come to us because of our history; they remain with us because we value our clients.

My pupillage and tenancy at Cloisters had a profound influence on me. At the time, it was the one of the top ten sets of Chambers in London and David Turner-Samuels, who became Head of Chambers, had represented Bermudians charged in the BELCO riots in the 1960s. Cloisters was producing many of the leading public lawyers of the generation and I was privileged to work alongside them. Those experiences inspired me to take on a lot of public law cases when I came to Bermuda.

I was honoured to receive the appointment as Queen’s Counsel in a ceremony at Westminster Hall in London, but my overriding sentiment is one of deep gratitude for the people whose contributions and example helped to shape my personal and professional life trajectory. Taking silk in England is a rare designation, especially in Bermuda, and having Jerome Lynch, KC working with Trott & Duncan makes us the only firm on-island with two Queen’s Counsels on staff.

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