Court of Appeal president to fill a gap

Appeal court President Justice Marva McDonald-Bishop has begun to pen a book chronicling the history of that court after an AI search bot informed her there is a “dearth” of information about the institution.

McDonald-Bishop, who took the reins of the institution in 2024, becoming the first woman ever to hold that post, says upon being appointed she decided to “understand the court” she was “called upon to lead” and, as such, began to search for historical documentation.

“I started my research by digging up the Hansard reports from Parliament and other literature, only to be told by AI that there is a ‘dearth of information’ on the Court of Appeal and that persons concentrate more on the Privy Council and other courts of the Commonwealth,” McDonald-Bishop told individuals attending a recent Judiciary Day Public Lecture at the court on King Street in downtown Kingston.