British Virgin Islands Legal Recruitment | Okumura Partners Limited

A snapshot

The British Virgin Islands (BVI) are an archipelago consisting of over 50 islands of all shapes and sizes situated in the Caribbean Sea part way between the Eastern Caribbean island chain (that includes Antigua, Barbados, and St Lucia) and Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. They are more true to what one might visualise as being typical of the Caribbean – there are large amounts of undeveloped space and a mixture of historic and more modern buildings. It’s not hard to see why the British Virgin Islands inspired Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island”.

The main islands with notable populations are Anegada, Jost van Dyke, Tortola and Virgin Gorda, with Tortola being the commercial nexus, housing the BVI’s well-established financial services industry consisting of law firms, accountants and fiduciary service providers. Tortola is approximately 12 miles long, relatively narrow and has Road Town (the capital) roughly in the centre on the South coast. Whilst it doesn’t try to echo Antigua’s claim to having a different beach for every day of the year, Tortola does have some superb beaches on the North side, and no matter where you choose to live, you’ll be within no more than 10 minutes’ drive of somewhere to swim. Virgin Gorda is a more manicured tourist product and is a short ferry ride away from Road Town whilst Jost van Dyke tends to be the destination for boat day-trippers from the nearby US Virgin Islands. Richard Branson’s Necker and Moskito islands also bring occasional flurries of celebrity sightings around the BVI.

The Virgin Islands suffered one of the largest hurricanes in history in September 2017 – Hurricane Irma. Shortly thereafter they were struck by Hurricane Maria (another Category 5 hurricane) which brought flash flooding and hampered relief efforts. Law firms evacuated their staff to their other offices in the Caribbean, Channel Islands or London and provided whatever assistance was required to their staff. Since then, the BVI has repaired the infrastructure and mostly managed to get things back to normal.

Hurricanes are a seasonal occurrence in the BVI, usually posing nothing more than a slight inconvenience, but the scale of Irma had never been seen before. Lessons have been learned and, whilst statistically another similar event is unlikely to happen again any time soon, the country and the financial services industry is well-prepared.

Salaries and Tax

Salary ranges vary from firm to firm and can sometimes vary between practice areas to some extent. Salaries are typically around the US$100-125k mark at NQ level, around $135-150k at 3 PQE and salaried partner levels start anywhere from 220k upwards.

The BVI has payroll tax of 8%, although the first US$10,000 per annum is tax free. Other (small) deductions are for social security and National Health Insurance. As a bit of an oversimplification, you can expect to have about 10% of your total salary deducted for various taxes and contributions (although this tends towards 8% the more you earn as both social security and NHI contributions are capped).

Admission criteria

You must be qualified in England & Wales or Northern Ireland as a barrister or solicitor in order to be admitted to practice in the BVI (and therefore employed by a law firm in the BVI). Whilst it has long been proposed that there be a 3PQE minimum, it is still the case that you can be admitted as an NQ. Admission is a relatively simple matter once you are there, and the work permit processing times have been drastically cut in recent times, meaning that a relocation that used to take up to 6 months to happen can now take place in 3 months or even a few weeks if the parties so wish.

Market Overview

The BVI has steadily grown its presence and influence on the global legal map through a combination of having permissive, simple statutes, a good body of case law with a reliable court system (it has its own Commercial Court) and top quality professional services whilst also being a highly tax-efficient jurisdiction for structuring groups of companies or holding assets around the world. There have been several significant new entrants to the jurisdiction in the past few years.

Work has traditionally originated from Europe, Russia and the CIS as well as China and the Far East. The companies act equivalent in the British Virgin Islands is based on Delware law which was designed to be a lot more flexible than the English companies act. The partnership act is, somewhat inexplicably, based on outdated English statutes and, as a result, there are not many partnerships set up in the BVI.

Key areas of hiring in the BVI are Litigation and Corporate.

Getting there

Whilst the government had tried to kick-start direct flights from BVI to the USA, this has not yet materialised and main routes to the rest of the world tend to be via flights to Puerto Rico and onwards to a US hub, or to Antigua and onwards to London. It will take the better part of a full day to get to London. There are a number of small and independent airlines that fly from Tortola to other Caribbean destinations for those wanting a break within the Caribbean.

Leisure time and practical information

As with most of the offshore jurisdictions, the BVI offers a fantastic selection of outdoor pursuits. You can go deep sea fishing, take up scuba diving, join up with one of the many sailing groups or even do Iron Mans and Triathlons if you are that way inclined. It’s easy to meet people and make new friends and, as well as the law firms being extremely good at organising social activities for new-arrivals, you’re just as likely to get talking to someone at a bar after work who will invite you out on their boat or to a gathering.

You need to be able to drive or you will find yourself limited in your choice of accommodation and reliant on friends and colleagues for lifts. It’s possible to learn to drive in the BVI (and we know a number of people who have done this), but it may be easier to get your licence before you relocate if you don’t already have one.

You will inevitably get “Island Fever” at some point, when you need to get off the rock and do something different. On your doorstep is the rest of the Caribbean, and in half a day you can be in Miami to do some retail therapy, catch an NFL game or see a concert.

Cost of living is greater than in London, with accommodation and electricity being the two main factors in that increase. Food is mostly imported by ship from the US, so that comes at a premium as well. Alcohol and tobacco are surprisingly inexpensive.