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A heated public debate over the role of unlicensed legal supporters known as “McKenzie friends” has gripped Barbados, after the Barbados Bar Association (BBA) issued a rare public warning naming three community and political figures it says are not authorized to offer legal services. The BBA specifically called out Winston Clarke, Colin Roach and Quincy Jones, alerting residents that none of the three have been formally called to the island’s bar and are not entered on the official roll of licensed practicing attorneys. But the BBA’s public notice has sparked sharp pushback from senior legal figures and community leaders, who argue these unlicensed advisers fill a critical gap for low-income Barbadians locked out of the formal legal system.

Leading the criticism is Alair Shepherd, one of the island’s most prominent senior constitutional counsels, who came forward to defend the work of the named McKenzie friends. In a press briefing held Thursday at the Belleville office of the Unity Workers’ Union (UWU), Shepherd argued that the services these practitioners provide are both lawful and desperately needed. “I just thought somebody from the Bar needed to say to the public that they are filling a badly needed void,” Shepherd told reporters. He emphasized that the work of McKenzie friends is not illegal under common law, and that at least one local court has explicitly endorsed their right to assist self-represented litigants, specifically allowing Clarke to speak on a client’s behalf in a past proceeding that ultimately ended in a successful outcome for the litigant.

The concept of a McKenzie friend traces its roots to the 1970 English Court of Appeal case *McKenzie v McKenzie*, which established that self-represented litigants have a formal right to receive non-lawyer support and guidance during court proceedings. This principle has been widely adopted across Commonwealth common law jurisdictions, including Barbados, though specifics on allowed activities are left to the discretion of individual trial judges. Under the established framework, it is well within a judge’s power to permit a McKenzie friend to address the court directly, a long-standing precedent that the BBA’s notice failed to acknowledge, Shepherd said.

Shepherd labeled the BBA’s public naming of the three practitioners “unfortunate”, arguing that the publication of their names in a public warning created the misleading implication that their work was inherently unlawful, when it is actually protected by established common law. For his part, Clarke – one of the three named in the notice – said the BBA failed to extend him even the basic courtesy of an opportunity to respond to prior complaints before going public with the warning. He told reporters that after a complaint was filed over his assistance to a self-represented litigant, BBA leaders never reached out to him for comment, instead publishing his name directly in local newspaper notices.

Clarke, who has long made clear to all clients that he is not a licensed attorney, said the warning has already caused severe harm to his livelihood, with many community members now incorrectly believing he was misrepresenting himself as a lawyer and pulling away from his services. “Quite a few people have reached out to me saying that from reading that they believed that I was purporting to be an attorney and that they shouldn’t take advice from me about anything,” Clarke said. “I am very upset about this and the way it was done because they should have reached out to me.” He added that he intends to bring the matter before the courts, and will continue providing assistance to low-income residents who cannot afford the cost of a licensed attorney.

The BBA’s move has also drawn criticism from Caswell Franklyn, leader of the Unity Workers’ Union and a former senator, who has himself provided informal legal guidance to community members for years. Franklyn threw his full support behind Clarke and the other named practitioners, noting that systemic gaps in access to justice leave low-income Barbadians with few affordable options for legal support. “The problem is if you are poor and cannot afford a lawyer you suffer in Barbados and as Mr Shepherd said, Winston and others are providing a need,” Franklyn said. “Almost on a weekly basis I have to see people who do not have the wherewithal to go to a lawyer and I have sent them to Winston.” The debate has shone a bright spotlight on longstanding unmet demand for affordable legal assistance across the island, with advocates pushing for clearer formal recognition of the role McKenzie friends play in expanding access to justice.

As violent crime continues its upward trajectory across the Caribbean island nation of Barbados, the main opposition Democratic Labour Party (DLP) is pressing the ruling government to revive targeted youth engagement initiatives, warning that disenfranchised young men are increasingly vulnerable to recruitment by criminal gangs and drawn into violent activity. The urgent call comes in the wake of a recent assault on a foreign tourist near popular Carlisle Bay, carried out by a group of young males, that left the visitor hospitalized and raised fresh alarms about crime spreading to key tourism areas.

Speaking at a DLP headquarters press briefing Thursday, Senator Ryan Walters, chair of the party’s shadow spokesperson cabinet, outlined growing risks as the academic year draws to a close. With no structured summer activities in place for thousands of out-of-school teens, Walters warned that idle time will leave many 16 to 18-year-old young men with little positive outlet for their energy. Left with no organized programming, many will gather on neighborhood blocks, where they face heightened exposure to recruitment by gangs and groups engaged in harmful, illegal activity, he argued. “Government intervention is critical to reverse this trend,” Walters stressed.

He added that the dual gaps of eliminated national summer programs and restricted access to public community and recreational facilities have exacerbated the island’s crime crisis. The DLP has proposed reviving two proven successful initiatives: the Barbados Defence Force (BDF) sports program, which draws young men into structured athletic activity and keeps them engaged away from criminal circles, and a revamped Advanced Youth Corps that expands opportunities for positive community participation. Walters noted that the country has not hosted full-scale national summer programs for at least two years, a gap that stirred widespread public frustration last year, and remains unaddressed by the current administration.

Beyond the absence of seasonal programming, Walters pointed to systemic barriers to recreational access that push young people toward idle activity. During a recent community visit two weeks prior to the press conference, local residents told him that public recreational courts shut off their outdoor lighting as early as 6 or 7 p.m. each evening. This means even young people who want to play basketball or road tennis — two extremely popular pastimes for Barbadian youth — are locked out of safe, structured activity after work or school, leaving them with no positive alternative to gathering on neighborhood streets.

Walters emphasized that violent crime is no longer confined to a small set of high-risk neighborhoods, but has become a pervasive threat across the entire country. “This reality is closer to home than ever before, and our communities are under direct threat,” he said. The island has seen repeated shooting incidents in residential areas dense with young families, including Deacons Farm and The Pine, and even violent attacks within close proximity to local nursery schools, he added. Citing seven years of consistent crime data, Walters noted that the island has posted near-record high murder rates in recent years: 49 murders were recorded in 2024, followed by 48 in 2025. As of mid-2026, the country has already seen 22 homicides, putting the island on pace to average one murder per week for the full year. In total, more than 240 young men have been murdered across Barbados over the past seven years, Walters confirmed.

DLP’s tourism and international transport spokesperson Rasheed Belgrave added a separate layer of concern, noting that violent crime is now spilling over into the island’s top tourism zones, threatening Barbados’ decades-long brand as a safe, welcoming tropical destination for international visitors. Belgrave pointed to a string of high-profile violent incidents in prime tourism and entertainment districts over recent months: a fatal stabbing on First Street in Holetown, St. James; a triple homicide at Thunder Bay, also in St. James; and a fatal shooting during the popular annual Oistins Fish Festival, a major draw for both tourists and local residents. “These tragic events have planted fear in spaces that are supposed to be safe and welcoming for everyone,” Belgrave said.

Beyond the immediate damage to public safety, Belgrave warned that persistent violent crime in tourism hubs will have severe cascading impacts on Barbados’ economy, which relies heavily on tourism and hospitality as its primary source of employment and foreign revenue. “These incidents do not just harm our national reputation as a peaceful destination, they undermine the hard work of thousands of law-abiding Barbadians who depend on tourism for their livelihoods,” he explained. If the current wave of violence goes unaddressed, Belgrave warned, it will eventually lead to declining visitor arrivals, eroded public confidence in public safety, and reduced patronage for tourism-linked businesses from both international visitors and local residents. The economic ripple effect would hit every sector tied to tourism, from large hotels and fine dining restaurants to taxi providers, street vendors, local attractions and small hospitality businesses across the island.

The opposition’s joint call puts new pressure on the ruling administration to respond to rising crime rates and address the underlying socioeconomic drivers of violent gang activity, particularly among unemployed and out-of-school youth.