SVG appoints Mikhail Charles as Legal Advisor at UK High Commission

Vincentian lawyer, Mikhail Charles, has been appointed Honorary Legal Advisor for St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) at its High Commission in the United Kingdom (UK).

By accepting the appointment, Charles has agreed to give legal advice, gratis, when the High Commission requires it, save where it is otherwise agreed that he shall be paid for legal services provided in relation to a particular issue.

The role has been confirmed by Charlotte Williams, Chargé d’Affaires to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean British High Commission, Bridgetown.

Charles told SEARCHLIGHT on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, that he is happy to serve SVG.

“There is lots of work to do in deepening the professional relationships between the UK and Caribbean,” Charles said.

“This builds on a decade since I was the first Caribbean lawyer engaged on the Young Professionals Programme at the Commonwealth Secretariat.”

Charles, a barrister at 5 Pump Court Chambers in London, brings both local and international legal experience to the advisory role. He previously served as Legal Officer at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, from 2015 to 2017.

With 12 years at the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Bar, and admission across eight Caribbean jurisdictions, Charles maintains a practice covering commercial disputes, corporate matters, and cross-border transactions. In addition to his London chambers, Charles serves as Of Counsel to Baptiste & Co. Law Firm Inc. in Kingstown, where he advises on myriad civil and commercial matters.

His clients have included international technology companies on regional commercial matters.

The Honorary Legal Advisor position provides the High Commission with access to legal counsel familiar with both English and Caribbean legal systems. The role operates on a voluntary, non-exclusive basis and follows standard Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office procedures.

The Honorary Legal Advisor appointment ensures that the High Commission has access to counsel with proven international diplomatic experience and deep understanding of both local and Commonwealth-wide legal frameworks.

Such appointments operate on a non-exclusive basis as personal arrangements, subject to periodic review.

“I look forward to supporting the High Commission’s work when called upon,” Charles noted.

The appointment maintains the High Commission’s access to qualified legal expertise, while preserving its policy of not recommending specific practitioners to British nationals seeking legal assistance.

According to the website of Baptiste and Company Law Firm Inc Charles is an experienced litigator across the Caribbean Region with a broad cross-border commercial disputes practice, including insolvency and regulatory litigation. He is intimately involved with the representation of companies and high–net worth individuals globally, in matters relating to trusts, cross– border insolvency, international judgment enforcement and asset recovery and has litigated to a successful conclusion several reported cases.

He has also lectured at a regional university on matters of corporate and insolvency law.

Charles has a LL.B (Hons) – University of Wales; LL.M Corporate and Insolvency Law – Nottingham Law School; Advanced Certificate in Trust Disputes – Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP),

SVG is the “home jurisdiction” of Charles. He was admitted to the Bar in 2013 and quickly established a busy practice appearing in the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal in 2015 for the (then) largest money laundering case in its history, challenged the sentencing of an accused person with severe mental health issues and tested the newly passed Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act of Saint Vincent with the first ever recognition of a ‘foreign liquidator’ application.