Dr. Duncan E. Berry Named Professional of the Year in Legal Services

    NAIROBI, KENYA, August 05, 2015 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Dr. Duncan Berry, Consultant Legislative Counsel, has been named a Worldwide Branding Professional of the Year in Legal Services. While inclusion in Worldwide Branding is an honour only a few members in each discipline are chosen for this distinction. These special members are honoured distinguished based on their professional accomplishments, academic achievements, leadership abilities, years of service, and the credentials they have provided in association with their Worldwide Branding membership.

Dr. Berry has 53 years of professional experience. Throughout his career, he distinguished himself in the legislative drafting profession. He currently works as a consultant legislative counsel to the Kenyan State Law Office where he is drafting new Companies and Insolvency legislation. He also conducts legislative drafting training courses from time to time and is currently conducting a training course at the Kenya School of Law.

Dr. Berry was born in Derby, England, on 9th February 1936, where he grew up. After leaving Bemrose Grammar School in 1954, he studied law at Nottingham University and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1957. After completing his national military service, he was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1962. He has since been called to the Bar in four other legal jurisdictions: New Zealand, New South Wales, Tasmania and Hong Kong. Today marks the 50th anniversary of the date on which he began his legislative drafting career. Since embarking on his chosen profession, he has drafted legislation in 10 different (mainly Commonwealth) countries as well as conducted legislative drafting training courses in Hong Kong and a number of other places.

Dr. Berry is pre-eminent in his field and is both well-known and highly respected not only in Commonwealth legislative drafting communities but also in legislative drafting circles in English speaking countries outside the Commonwealth. This dedication and enthusiasm is manifested not only by his considerable output in terms of the legislation he has drafted over the years, but also his passion for expressing the law clearly, plainly and accurately and for ensuring that the legislation he drafts is legally effective. His dedication and enthusiasm is further manifested by the considerable number of articles and papers (almost 30) that he has published on issues relating to legislation and legislative drafting.

Looking back, Dr. Berry attributes his success to his dedication, commitment, interest in his work, and determination to produce the best product possible. He decided to study law while in his final year at Bemrose School, having been influenced by former school colleagues who had already embarked on legal studies. He has absolutely no regret about following his chosen career and considers himself fortunate to be paid for something he enjoys doing.

One of the main highlights of Dr. Berry's career was receiving the degree of Doctor of Juridical Science from the Chancellor of the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia (UTS), and former Chief Justice of Australia, Sir Leonard Brennan. He has also earned a Master of Laws from Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand, a Master of Public Policy from the University of Sydney, Australia, a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Nottingham, England, and a graduate diploma in communication management from the UTS.

In the legislative drafting field, highlights of Dr. Berry's career include--
• New Zealand: the Armed Forces Discipline Act 1971 (which for the first time unified the disciplinary codes of all three New Zealand armed forces and which is still on the New Zealand statute book); and the Marine Farming Act 1971 (a world first for the promotion and regulation of the aquaculture industry);
• Hong Kong: the Securities Ordinance and other related legislation (which for the first time provided for the regulation of the provision of financial services in Hong Kong); the Legislative Council Ordinance (to re-constitute the Hong Kong Legislative Council when the Chinese Central People's Government disallowed the legislation for electing the Council in force before the Chinese resumption of sovereignty on 1 July 1997); the Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance (which reformed the law on the conduct of elections to the Hong Kong legislature); the legislation to implement the Mandatory Provident Fund Scheme to provide retirement benefits for Hong Kong residents; and a new Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance to replace the outdated Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance;
• New South Wales: the Children (Equality of Status) Act 1976 (which removed discrimination against 'illegitimate' children); the Consumer Claims Tribunal Act 1987; the Rural Lands Protection Act 1989; the Roads Act 1993; the Strata Titles (Leasehold) Act 1986; and the Superannuation Administration Act 1991;
• Tasmania: the controversial Gordon River Hydro-Electric Power Development (Referendum) Act 1981 (which provided for the holding of a referendum to determine which of two hydro-electric power schemes should be constructed on the Gordon River in western Tasmania); and the Electoral Act 1985 (which replaced the outdated and largely unworkable Electoral Act 1907);
• Lesotho: the Elections Order 1992, which facilitated the holding of an election in 1993 to restore democracy to Lesotho after a hiatus of almost 20 years;
• Ireland: the Asset Covered Securities Act 2001 (which regulates dealings in asset covered securities and is believed to have been 'a first' for an English-speaking jurisdiction); the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland Act 2003 and the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland Act 2004 (which transformed the Irish Central Bank from a monetary authority into an authority whose brief was to supervise and regulate the provision of financial services in Ireland).

Other highlights were his role in establishing the Tasmanian branch of Amnesty International in 1979 and becoming its first President and, as a member of its first National Executive Committee, in contributing to the unification of the six State branches to form Amnesty International Australia in 1983.

Dr. Berry is a founding member of the Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel (CALC) and was its Secretary from 1999 to 2011. At the 2011 CALC Conference in Hyderabad, India, he retired as Secretary and, to mark his retirement, he was presented with a commemorative issue of CALC's flagship journal, "The Loophole" in recognition of his long and dedicated service. Earlier, at the CALC Conference in Kenya in 2007, he was presented with a commemorative plaque for his services as Secretary of CALC. Although Dr. Berry has now completed 50 years in his chosen profession, he has put on record that he has no plans to retire any time soon.

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