John Blackburn Gittings

JOHN BLACKBURN GITTINGSNews has reached us of the death of John Blackburn Gittings, who was Attorney General of Gibraltar from 1992 until 1994.After vacating office, he was in private practice in Gibraltar for a short period of time, prior to being appointed High Court Judge in Botswana.

Under the provisions of the then Gibraltar Constitution, he was ex-officio member of the House of Assembly.Admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England in 1956, after initial experience as a Prosecutor, John undertook defence work and was a partner in the well-known firm of Leo Abse & Cohen and later became senior partner of Stuart Hallinan Blackburn Gittings & Company.In 1970, John moved to London and became senior partner of the central London practice of Hallinan Blackburn Gittings & Nott.During the 22 years that John practised in London, he represented clients who appeared in high profile criminal cases.During that time he also sat as a Deputy District Judge for 6 years in Central London Magistrates' Courts.In 1992 John was asked by HM Government to become Attorney General for Gibraltar, which entailed, inter alia, prosecuting and making the decision to prosecute in all cases.As Attorney General, he was also responsible for the drafting of Gibraltar's legislation, and was the Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee of the Bar, the Industrial Appeals Tribunal and the Mental Health Review Tribunal. In 1994 he was called to the Bar of Gibraltar.In 1995 John was appointed to the High Court Bench by the Government of Botswana, where he sat as a High Court Judge until his retirement in June 2001.Upon his retirement, he was appointed a Fellow of the Botswana Institute of Arbitrators and was an Associate Member of the South African Institute of Arbitrators.Our condolences to his widow Gale.