New magistrate sworn in

Lawyer Lawrence Quintano was yesterday sworn in as magistrate by President Guido de Marco, in a ceremony held at the Palace in Valletta, where Prof. de Marco spoke about the qualities of the members of the judiciary, stressing that every member of the judiciary had to have the value of integrity.

Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami, Justice Minister Austin Gatt, Chief Justice Vincent Degaetano and Attorney General Anthony Borg Barthet were present for the ceremony.

Dr Quintano graduated from the University of Malta in 1983 and has since been working at the Attorney General's Office, responsible for a number of departments, particularly the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Education Division and the Ministry of Finance.

He has given legal advice on many international treaties and has also been involved in the drafting of multilateral and bilateral treaties, both in Malta and at international level.

Dr Quintano has represented the government of Malta both before the European Commission of Human Rights and the European Court in Strasbourg and also defended Malta's reports before the United Nations Committee of Human Rights, the Committee against Torture and the Committee for the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination.

Throughout his career, Dr Quintano has been particularly active in the Council of Europe where he served on the Committee of Experts entrusted with the preparation of the Convention on Civil Liability for Damage to the Environment, in the Convention on Children's Rights and in the Framework Convention on the Rights of Minorities.

Dr Quintano has been teaching civil law at the University of Malta since 1987 and is also the author of numerous articles about family law aspects and others about judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and the International Court of Justice respectively.

He is married to Antoinette née Gauci and they have two children, Elizabeth-Mary and Patrick.