Lawyer mulls retirement after devastating blaze

Prominent attorney-at-law Wentworth Charles was dealt a devastating blow in the early hours of Thursday morning, as fire destroyed the building which has been housing his law office on Duke Street, Kingston, for the past 43 years.

"I have lost my entire practice. I was call to the Bar in 1981, and I think I have one of the best libraries in the country," said Charles. "My library had a lot of books that I purchased from Justice Carbury, a former Court of Appeal judge. I have a number of Norman Manley's books. Most of my library was here."

When THE WEEKEND STAR visited the location yesterday, firefighters were still conducting cooling-down operations and assisting in the removal of valuables from the building, which is located at 20 Duke Street. A senior firefighter told the news team that they were still trying to ascertain the cause of the fire, which they believe started on the upper floor of the building.

As Charles and members of his staff searched through the rubble for valuables that were spared, he said the fire has caused him to make up his mind about winding down his career, which has spanned over four decades.

"I think I am going to be winding down my practice, really, because after this disaster, you really just want to wind down," said Charles. "I have demonstrated an inclination over the last few years, and I have not been taking on a lot of new cases. But I have a number of matters that have been going on for some time that I have to finish, so those matters are on my priority list to finish...I am trying to recover the documentation; to complete them will be paramount."

Pointing towards a cabinet filled with burnt files, Charles stated that he will have to ask for a delay in some matters that are before the court, as well as make the necessary applications for documents destroyed.

"The matters that I am doing, and the titles that have been destroyed, I will have to make the necessary applications to the registrar of titles, utilising the report of a fire and the necessary statutory declarations," explained Charles. "I had about 12 titles, and that I will have to seek to recover ... I have two matters before the Supreme Court and the files are all burnt, as they were on my desk; so all of that went up in smoke."

"I will have to try and make copies of the matter in the Supreme Court and obtain what is available there," added Charles.

The senior attorney said he will be temporarily storing the items recovered from the fire at his home.

"I can't put a figure to the amount that I have lost, to be honest. My all-England Law Report alone, a set of those cost about 15,000 pounds. I have lost a lot, and I will just have to take what is recovered at home until I get an alternative location,' he said.