Mr. Samuda holds a L.L.B. (Hons.) degree from the University of the West Indies, and was admitted to practice in 1982.  He was educated at St Hugh’s Preparatory School, Wolmer’s Boys’ School, the University of the West Indies and the Norman Manley Law School. He is the Senior Partner in the law firm of Samuda & Johnson. 

Mr. Samuda’s practice includes Corporate and Hotel Financing; Trade and Transportation; Mining and Energy; Sports and Entertainment; and Maritime Law.  He has represented international and local financiers in major lendings for a variety of hotel and other projects and has acted for significant local and international hotel interests.  In his corporate practice, Mr. Samuda has acted in major divestments, public offers and private placements.  Mr. Samuda is one of the few attorneys in Jamaica with a practice in Mining and Energy and he represents major players in that sector.  In his entertainment practice, Mr. Samuda led Jamaica’s Bureau Negotiating Team to the Midem 1997 music conference in Cannes, France and again later that year, to the Midem Conference in Miami, Florida. Additionally, he has represented recording and publishing companies, artistes and songwriters, producers and actors, sportsmen, sports agents and sports organizations.    He is a former member of the Industry Advisory Council to the Government of Jamaica on the Entertainment Industry. 

Mr. Samuda is a member of the Board of the RJR Communications Group, a major, publicly listed communications group and serves as the chairman of that Group’s television subsidiary, Television Jamaica Limited (TVJ).  He is a director of Berger Paints Jamaica Limited, another publicly listed company, and is Chairman of Galaxy Leisure and Tours Limited, a private car rental and tour company.  A Commissioner on Jamaica’s Anti-Dumping and Subsidies Commission, Mr. Samuda is also a director and Third Vice-President of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce and serves as a director of the Jamaica Conference Board (a collaboration of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce and USAID).  Mr. Samuda is a member of the Advisory Board of the Spanish Jamaican Foundation (a foundation established by Spanish Investors in Jamaica) and also serves as the Foundation’s Secretary.  Mr. Samuda is also Acting Chairman of the Institute of Law and Economics and is a director of Movements Dance Company of Jamaica.  He also serves as Chairman of the Wolmer’s Trust and Chairman of the Board of Management of the Wolmer’s Trust Schools.   

Mr. Samuda is a member of other boards of private companies. 

A past Chairman and director of both the YMCA and of the Jamaica Save the Children Fund, Mr. Samuda was also a director of VOUCH (the Voluntary Organisation for the Upliftment of Children), the University Hospital of the West Indies, the UHWI Private Wing Limited, GSB Credit Union Limited and Jamaica Gypsum & Quarries Limited.  Mr. Samuda was also a member of the Jamaican Coalition on the Rights of the Child. 

An Anglican, Mr. Samuda is married to Elizabeth and has three children, Matthew, Marlon and Mariana.