Appleby Bermuda Partner Tammy Richardson-Augustus spoke at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs for a first of its kind Symposium focused on law, identity, and economic development in the Northern Atlantic and larger Caribbean regions. The Symposium took place on 21 April in Princeton, New Jersey.
The Symposium, featuring leading practitioners and scholars was addressed by keynote speaker, Economist and leading Advisor on the Caribbean Marla Dukharan. The Symposium explored the cultural, legal, and institutional tools available to post-colonial jurisdictions seeking to grow their economies in a rapidly changing and increasingly post-global world. The discourse centered around the predominantly Black and Brown communities in the Northern Atlantic and Caribbean regions in the global inequality discourse. Panelists explored the nature of the international legal and policy frameworks and their impact on the progress of these regions.
Tammy participated in the ‘Building and Evaluating Regulatory Capacity in Smaller Jurisdictions’ panel, alongside fellow panellists Miguel Centeno (Musgrave Professor of Sociology and Executive Vice-Dean for the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs) and Steven Dean (Professor at Brooklyn Law School), with moderator Kevin Davis (Beller Family Professor of Business Law at New York University School of Law).
Tammy was honoured to join this deep bench of talented and collaborative thought leaders in discussing the issues central to our times. Tammy said: “I was pleased to share Bermuda’s value proposition as shaped by our history of innovation which made for an interesting case study and set the table for rich discourse around the headwinds we face and our jurisdiction’s perennial resilience and ingrained ability to realise new opportunities, notably in the area of climate risk finance. Bermuda’s strength is our robust and pragmatic regulatory framework, coupled with our agility to innovate as the tides shift.”
Symposium organiser Martin W. Sybblis, who is a Visiting Fellow at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs and Associate Professor at Emory University’s School of Law, commented: “this Symposium explored the economic development struggles and successes of smaller societies that are still grappling with the social, legal, and economic legacies of colonialism. It is my hope that we can build on this gathering to encourage greater international support for the development efforts of the countries and territories in the Northern Atlantic and Caribbean regions.”
Bermudian Jay Butler (Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law) remarked: “This conference at Princeton University brought together leading experts in law, politics, economics, and sociology to discuss how a society’s economic identity shapes the policy choices it makes in pursuit of prosperity. This is especially relevant with respect to how islands like Bermuda construct and manage themselves as offshore financial centers. It is an important area of research that is particularly timely as the world considers the Global Minimum Tax and the impact of similar tax measures on the economic fortunes of offshore financial centers, like Bermuda.”
Christopher Bruner (Professor of Law at the University of Georgia School of Law) and author of Re-Imagining Offshore Finance: Market Dominant Small Jurisdictions in a Globalizing Financial World, said: “Small jurisdictions around the world – including in the Northern Atlantic and Caribbean regions – are at the frontlines of a range of global environmental and economic challenges. Now more than ever, it is critical that we explore sustainable economic development models available to small jurisdictions, as well as the lessons that all jurisdictions can learn from their experiences. This symposium took a deep dive into these important subjects.”
Tammy is a member of Appleby corporate department in Bermuda where she maintains a diversified business transactions practice, with emphasis on domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, capital markets and securities (debt and equity), financing transactions and general corporate governance mandates. She has earned the trust of her clients across a spectrum of industry sectors, including in energy, oil and gas exploration, and maritime shipping. Tammy is recognised by Chambers Global 2021 for her ‘analytical’ approach to complex international transactions, by IFLR1000 in the banking and finance, and M&A categories, and as a ‘Leading Individual’ by Legal 500 Caribbean. She serves as a director on various statutory boards including The Bermuda Monetary Authority (Chair of Legal Policy Committee), The Bermuda Deposit Insurance Corporation, The Financial Policy Council Review Group and The BermudaFirst Think Tank. She is also a non-executive director on the board of The Polaris Group of Companies and Aspen Insurance Group (Chair of Investment Committee). Tammy also sits on the governance committee of various non-profits including The Bermuda End-to-End, The Saltus Grammar School, One Love Foundation, The Commonwealth Study Conference (Bermuda – co-chair), WISTA Bermuda (Founding Member) and WeSpeak Bermuda. This commitment to public service earned her a Justice of the Peace designation.
