Profile

Justice Barry Leon is the High Court Judge (Commercial Division), Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, in the Territory of the Virgin Islands. The Commercial Court is located in Road Town, Tortola, Territory of the Virgin Islands.

Prior to his appointment to the Court in March 2015, Justice Leon was a Partner and Head of the International Arbitration Group at Perley-Robertson, Hill & McDougall LLP, a leading international arbitration firm based in Ottawa, Canada. Until 2009 he was a Partner with Torys LLP in its Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice in Toronto, Canada, and for many years served as Coordinator of the Practice. He has more than 30 years of experience as counsel, acting on many complex and significant cases for a wide variety of clients and involving many different industries including financial services, natural resources, energy, technology, intellectual property, manufacturing and construction.

While Justice Leon primarily acted as counsel in disputes, he also served as an arbitrator and mediator, which he continues to do occasionally. He is a commercial arbitrator and mediator with Arbitration Place and ADR Chambers, sits as an international arbitrator on International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)) and other international arbitrations. Justice Leon is a Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) and an International Mediation Institute (IMI) Certified Mediator.

Justice Leon received numerous professional recognitions in international arbitration and other areas including from Global Arbitration Review's GAR 100; Chambers Global; Lexpert/American Lawyer's Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada; PLC Which Lawyer?; The International Who's Who of Commercial Arbitration; The Best Lawyers in Canada; Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory; Guide to the World's Leading Experts in Commercial Arbitration; Guide to the Leading US/Canada Cross-Border Litigation Lawyers in Canada; and Who's Who Legal - Canada.

In 2013 he received CPR International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution's "Award for Outstanding Contribution to Diversity in ADR".

Justice Leon has been an active member of numerous international arbitration organizations, serving in executive positions and on task forces and commissions, and organizing conferences and events. He is immediate past Chair of the Arbitration Committee of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, ICC Canada (Canadian National Committee of the ICC) and Co- Chair of The Advocates' Society's Arbitration and Mediation Advocacy Practice Group. He regularly chaired conferences and panels and speaks and writes extensively on arbitration, commercial litigation and mediation topics.

Justice Leon was admitted to Bar in Ontario, Canada in 1976. He holds a law degree from the University of Toronto, an MBA degree from the Richard Ivey School of Business at The University of Western Ontario, and a BA (Political Science; Economics) from the University of Alberta.