Home> Legal Associations> State Bar Associations >Virgin Islands

Virgin Islands Bar Association

The Virgin Islands Bar Association was created in 1956 to assist the Supreme Court in regulating the practice of law in the territory. As an integrated bar, all attorneys admitted to practice law in the Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands are also required to be members of the Virgin Islands Bar Association. 

Attorneys who practice law in the Virgin Islands must follow the Rules of the Supreme Court, including the rules governing professional responsibility, discipline, and establish membership status.

Complaints against attorneys for violating the Rules of Professional Conduct and other grievance matters are handled by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel. The Virgin Islands Supreme Court created the Commission on Judicial Conduct ("CJC") by rule to conduct investigations and hearings concerning complaints of ethical misconduct by judges.

The mission of the Virgin Islands Bar Association is to "promote improvements in the administration of justice and to monitor and advocate public policy issues affecting the judicial system" while working to "improve the community through public education and public service."

The bar association has approximately 1,000 members who practice within the United States Territory of the Virgin Islands. As an unincorporated territory, the Virgin Islands is located in the Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean which includes the islands of St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John, along with several lesser cays.


Contact Information

Virgin Islands Bar Association
2155 King Cross Street, Suite 2
P.O. Box 224108
Christiansted, St. Croix, USVI 00822-4108
T: (340) 778-7497
executivedirector@vibar.org
www.vibar.org

Members of the VIBA

The Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands governs the admission of all attorneys who must become members of the Virgin Islands Bar Association. The Virgin Islands Bar consists of five classes of members including:

  • regular
  • special
  • inactive
  • pro hac vice
  • honorary

Attorneys with regular admission are admitted under the provisions of Supreme Court Rule 204. Members pay membership dues on an annual basis.

Special members of the Virgin Islands Bar (VIBA) include any attorney who has been specially admitted to practice law in the Virgin Islands under Supreme Court Rule 202 or a predecessor rule governing special admission on behalf of:

  • the Government of the United States;
  • the Government of the Virgin Islands;
  • Office of the Public Defender;
  • Legal Services of the Virgin Islands; or
  • other eligible agencies.

The VIBA's FInd a Lawyer Service

The website of the Virgin Islands Bar Association has a "Find A Lawyer Service" feature to help the public search for an attorney by providing information on its members and their practice areas.

The directory allows the public to search for a member of the VIBA by name, city/town, practice area or any of the following locations:

  • St. Croix
  • St. Thomas
  • St. John

Visit the website of the Virgin Islands Bar Association to use the "Find a Lawyer in the Virgin Islands" search features.


Lawyer Referral Service of the VIBA

The Virgin Islands Bar Association (VIBA) manages a Lawyer Referral Service (LRS) that helps the public find an attorney. The LRS helps the public when they begin their search for an attorney in the Virgin Islands.

The attorneys listed in the "Find A Lawyer Service" database are current members of the Virgin Island Bar Association.

The most common practice areas of law covered by the lawyer referral service include:

  • criminal defense;
  • divorce and family law;
  • estate planning;
  • immigration;
  • DUI / DWI;
  • personal injury;
  • social security disability;
  • workers' compensation;
  • bankruptcy;
  • consumer debt; and
  • business / commercial law.

According to its website, the VIBA recognizes a need "to maintain its current top spot in the internet search engines as a source for finding Virgin Islands attorneys, and to fend off other organizations that are moving to become the top providers of attorney searches, usually for a price per year to the participants."


Additional Resources

VI Bar Association on Facebook - Visit the Facebook Page of the Virgin Islands Bar Association to find out more about upcoming events.


This article was last updated on Friday, January 10, 2020.

loading...
Saving...