Cara Shillingford

Cara Shillingford is a Dominican lawyer. She has won several cases that called the government of Dominica to account. In April 2024 she had the laws against same gender sex overturned.

Life
Shillingford was brought up in Dominica. She was the daughter of Sylvia Vidal and Hillary Shillingford who live in Salisbury. Her father is one of the most successful farmers in Dominica. She attended the University of the West Indies where she graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in law and she was accepted to the Bar in Dominica in October 2013.

In 2014 she was one of the lawyers involved in a case where it was alleged that all the fifteen politicians of the Dominica Labour Party who were elected in the elections that year were involved in treating before the election.

In 2018 she went to court to challenge the use of the Riot Act against over 50 citizens. She operated her own chambers in Dominica, employing other lawyers.

In 2020 she was a founding member of the Committee of Concerned Lawyers (CCL) which was a group of lawyers who believed that political interference had undermined the country's government. Statutory boards and other institutions are failing to act and they are made of people who routinely follow the government's line. The CCL said that they had no common political or religious loyalties but they did have sixteen goals and one of these was to create respect and primacy for the law. The CCL announced that they intended to improve education in legal matters so that the public were aware of their rights.

At the beginning of 2024 she again made the news as she again took on Anthony Astaphan who was the government's lawyer. The government had sacked their employees who had refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine. Shillingford argued that this was unconstitutional and she persuaded the courts to support her.

Shillingford spoke up for electoral reform that could see politicians elected by the Dominican diaspora. In April 2024, Shillingford persuaded the High Court of Justice to overturn the ban on same-sex activity because it violated the constitutional rights of LGBT individuals.

Private life
She is married to fellow lawyer Wayne Benjamin Marsh.