Mrs Portia Nicholson > Higgs & Johnson > NASSAU, Bahamas > Lawyer Profile
Higgs & Johnson Offices
OCEAN CENTRE, MONTAGU FORESHORE
EAST BAY STREET
P.O. BOX N-3247
Bahamas
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Mrs Portia Nicholson
Work Department
Commercial Transactions
Position
Portia is a Corporate and Commercial lawyer with over 31 years’ experience. She has acted as lead counsel to, or been involved in, many domestic and cross border commercial transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, high value structured finance transactions, initial public offerings and private placements of securities, as well as commercial real estate developments.
Career
Portia earned an LL.B. degree (Honours, Upper Second Class Division) from the University of the West Indies and a Legal Education Certificate from the Norman Manley Law School. She obtained an MBA from Nova Southeastern University, where she was nominated to the Dean’s Honors List. Portia’s continuing executive training has included Harvard Business School’s Focused Financial Management Series and courses in Investment Management at the Jamaica Institute of Bankers.
Memberships
Jamaica Bar Association
Education
- University of the West Indies (LL.B.) (Hons.), Kingston, Jamaica and Cave Hill, Barbados
- Norman Manley Law School, Kingston, Jamaica
- Nova Southeastern University (M.B.A.), Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Lawyer Rankings
Bahamas > Corporate law (including banking, finance and M&A)
(Leading individuals)Higgs & Johnson leverages its experience in commercial cross-border transactions to be a go-to name in the Bahamas for a broad range of mandates, with particular knowledge of the finance sector; the group has been notably involved in the development of legislation relating to the financial services and casino gaming industries and has advised on investment fund and trust company regulations. Financing projects also make up a sizeable proportion of the team’s workload along with regulatory and anti-money laundering mandates. Zarina Fitzgerald heads up the commercial transactions group and has recently handled structured finance transactions, M&A and restructuring work, while Freeport office managing partner Vivienne Gouthro leads the maritime and aviation practice. Christel Sands-Feaste leads the financial services and securities, investment funds and fintech groups and is praised as ‘a dynamic attorney‘. Tax practice leader Portia Nicholson and head of the government and regulatory affairs group Alexandra Hall are also active in the practice. Andre Hill was promoted to senior associate in early 2023.
Lawyer Rankings
- Corporate law (including banking, finance and M&A) Bahamas
- Leading individuals Bahamas > Corporate law (including banking, finance and M&A)