ABOUT PROFESSOR ROSE-MARIE BELLE ANTOINE

Professor Rose-Marie Belle Antoine is an attorney- at- law who holds the Chair as Professor of Labour Law and Offshore Financial Law at the Faculty of Law, University of the West-Indies, a regional university serving the entire Commonwealth Caribbean and its premier educational institution. She is the Deputy-Dean and the former Program Director of the LLM programme. Her specialist subject areas are Offshore/ International Financial Law, Labour Law, including Discrimination in Employment , Public Law and Law & Legal Systems. Previously, Professor Antoine was employed as a legal officer at the International Labour Office (ILO) in Geneva, Switzerland and worked briefly in London. One of Professor Antoine’s outstanding achievements is her receipt of the prestigious UWI Vice-Chancellor’s  Regional Award for Excellence in Research. She also received an Award from the Guild of Undergraduate Students for her ‘courage and dedication to students’.

Professor Antoine  holds a doctorate from Oxford University,  an LL.M. from Cambridge and an LL.B. from the University from the West-Indies.  She is a Cambridge Scholar, an Oxford Commonwealth Scholar and a Cambridge  Fellow. She also holds  diplomas and certificates with distinction in international human rights from the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. Professor Antoine has served as the legal consultant to many governments, including the government of Canada, and to several international and regional organisations.  These include the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, CARICOM, OECS, UNICEF, ILO, UNIFEM and  UNDCP.  She is the author of  well-known Reports on regional issues including Labour Law, Discrimination, Public Service Reform, Juvenile Justice, Mutual Legal Assistance (UNDCP/OECS) and ‘Women’s Rights in the Workplace’ ( ILO). As ILO consultant, she drafted a Labour Code for Saint. Lucia. She also serves as an associate professor to Case Western Reserve University USA in International Financial Law and was the Distinguished Goodwin Scholar 2004 for Nova SE University in Florida.

She has published widely in international legal journals and is the author of several books, t notably, Confidentiality in Offshore Financial Law  and  Trusts and Related Tax Issues in Offshore Financial Law, both published by the prestigious Oxford University Press. Her  first book, Commonwealth Caribbean Law and Legal Systems, published by Routledge Cavendish, London, is now into its second edition and is used by universities abroad. She is also the co-author and editor of the Unfair Dismissal Digest, ILO, Geneva, and Legal Issues in Offshore Finance (Randle Publishers). Professor Antoine has also contributed chapters to leading texts such as the Legal Systems of the World Encyclopedia, ABC, CLIO, USA,  Law and Employment: Lessons from Latin America and the Caribbean, edited by the Nobel Prize Winner in Economics, James Heckman and Human Resource Development and Workplace Governance in the Caribbean, Randle Publishers. She is the author of the well known CARICOM Harmonisation in Labour Law Report 1992, which formed the basis of the Commonwealth Caribbean’s (CARICOM) model laws and the blueprint and catalyst for labour law reform in the Commonwealth Caribbean.

Professor Antoine is actively involved in administration and policy planning at the university.  An avid gardener, trained vocal soloist, mainly in classical music, and amateur artist, she has strong interests in cultural and social activities, including writing and singing calypsos and singing folk music. She has a background in voluntary welfare work and is committed to active community service. A former Patron of the Salvation Army, she was a member of the Coalition against Sexual Harassment in Barbados. She is a legal resource person for regional HIV/ AIDS organizations such as CAREC, PANCAP and other community groups and sits on the UWI/ HIV Committee (UWI HARP). Professor Antoine is proud to be a past pupil of St. Joseph’s Convent, St. Joseph in Trinidad, where she was the Head-Girl and Sports Captain.