The Chief Justice, The Hon. Justice Margaret Ramsay-Hale, was called to the Jamaican Bar in 1991. After qualifying, she worked in private practice as an attorney-at-law and as a crown prosecutor before being appointed to the Bench in 1995 as Judge of the Family Court in St. James, Jamaica.

Between 1998 and 2011, she served as Magistrate and Chief Magistrate of the Cayman Islands. She was instrumental in establishing problem-solving courts that deal with domestic violence and provide treatment-based alternatives to criminal sanctions for persons with serious mental illness and substance use disorders who have come into conflict with the law and is committed to pursuing evidence-based initiatives in the justice sector.

In 2011, she was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of the Turks and Caicos Islands, the first woman to hold the post. In another first, she was appointed Chief Justice of the Turks and Caicos Islands and remained in that post until she returned to the Cayman Islands in 2020. In 2022, in yet another historically significant appointment, Ramsay-Hale was appointed Chief Justice of the Cayman Islands, the first woman to hold that office. She sits in every division of the Grand Court, including the Financial Services Division.

Chief Justice Ramsay-Hale is also an Honorary Bencher of Gray’s Inn. Throughout her distinguished career, she has been involved in legal education and judicial training, and is a frequent speaker at local, regional and international conferences and seminars.

Beyond her legal and judicial work, Chief Justice Ramsay-Hale has been deeply committed to community service. She has been an honourary member of the Rotary Club in the Cayman Islands for over 20 years and chaired the mentoring organisation, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Cayman Islands for a decade.