Council of Legal Education (CLE). 50th Anniversary: 1971-2021

Council of Legal Education (CLE) Training Lawyers in the Caribbean for

1971 – 2021

JAMAICA | TRINIDAD | BAHAMAS

Homes of the CLE Law Schools

www.clecaribbean.com

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Contents 1 |

Editorial

2 |

Acknowledgements

3 |

Oscar D Ramjeet – A Profile

4 |

The Council of Legal Education (CLE) Celebrates 50th Anniversary

6 |

Guidelines and Membership of the Council

7 |

The Crest

8 |

Chairpersons of the Council Over Time 9 | The First Five Chairmen of the CLE 10 | Chairs of Council – Profiles

15 |

A Nutshell Reminiscence of the First 3 Years

17 |

Reflections of The First Cohort

18 |

Sir Samuel Tapley Seaton – Profile

19 |

The University of the West Indies – One University / Five Campuses

21 |

The Faculty of Law UWI – A History and Overview

22 |

The CLE Law Schools

23 |

MESSAGES / GREETINGS

27 |

28 29 31

Profiles | Sir Hugh Wooding | Norman Manley | Eugene Dupuch

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Contents 32 |

Principals of the Law Schools

34 |

MESSAGES / GREETINGS

38 |

Welcome to Mona Law

40 |

That Caribbean Crossroad Spirit of 1971

45 |

The Difference Between English Qualified and West Indian Lawyers

47 |

Reminiscences of a Hugh Wooding Alumni

49 |

MESSAGES / GREETINGS

53 |

After 50 Golden Years: What Next?

55 |

Always An Admirer But Time for Reform

57 |

The Calls for Change in Legal Training

59 |

MESSAGES / GREETINGS

62 |

Leading Women Lawyers of the Caribbean 62 | Heads of State 65 | Leaders of Government / Politics 68 | The Judiciary 75 | Legal Practitioners / Professionals / Educators

78 |

A Look at Guyana’s Legal Landscape

81 |

The University of Guyana Remembers Law Stalwart Justice J.O.F. Haynes SC

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Editorial As a graduate of one of the CLE Law Schools, it is my distinct honour to coordinate the publishing of this Magazine to celebrate the great work of the Council of Legal Education (CLE) as it celebrates its 50th Anniversary.

The vision of the Caribbean Leaders some 50 years ago to establish the CLE with a mandate to establish the three Law Schools to train our lawyers in the Caribbean has been fully justified with a proud legacy of many graduates offering yeoman service in the region and beyond.

A number of our Caribbean Trained Lawyers have become outstanding citizens in our community serving as Heads of State, Leaders of Government, the Judiciary and also the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) – our homegrown Appellate Court and the highest Court in the region. The CCJ is currently headed by Justice Adrian Saunders, a distinguished CLE graduate who is serving as its current President, supported by a Bench of Judges, the majority of whom are also CLE graduates.

JAMAICA TRINIDAD BAHAMAS

This Magazine is a reflection of the success of the CLE Law Schools and the significant benefit it has brought to our region.

I wish to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to all of my legal colleagues and the leadership of the CLE Law Schools for their support in making this 50th Anniversary Magazine a reality as it chronicles the proud 50 year legacy of the CLE and its three Law Schools to our Caribbean region.

Best wishes for greater success over the next fifty years.

Many of our CLE graduates have developed into highly respected lawyers in private practice serving in the region and beyond.

The development and expansion of both the private and public sector across the region has seen a growing demand for lawyers to be employed as Legal Officers in the corporate commercial sector. This has also seen record annual enrollment of students in the CLE Law School Programme with the majority of our registrants and graduates over the last decade being females.

Oscar D Ramjeet Editor and a Proud CLE Graduate oscardramjeet@gmail.com

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Acknowledgements I wish to thank Mr Lokesh Singh and Ms Kimlin Lee Yaw for their kind assistance in supporting my efforts in making this project a reality.

policy, project management and quality assurance, Ms Lee Yaw supports the strategic and transformational efforts of Council and the Law schools.

Mr Lokesh Singh is the Managing Director of Advertising & Marketing Services based in St Lucia and the Publisher of a range of Business and Tourist Publications in Guyana and the Eastern Caribbean. He is well connected with the Private Sector across the Region and he is also the Guyana Honorary Consul to St Lucia.

I also wish to acknowledge the support of all other persons who have assisted in making this publication a reality.

Oscar D Ramjeet Editor and a Proud CLE Graduate oscardramjeet@gmail.com

Mr Singh has done a remarkable job in supporting me with editing, sourcing content and photographs and oversighting the design and publishing of the Magazine. I am grateful to him.

Ms Kimlin Lee Yaw is currently the Assistant Registrar of the CLE having joined the Council of Legal Education in May 2018 and is stationed at the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad. With her experience in strategy,

Mr Lokesh Singh

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Ms Kimlin Lee Yaw

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A Profile | Oscar D Ramjeet This commemorative booklet was compiled and edited by the now retired Oscar Ramjeet, a 1979 graduate of the Hugh Wooding Law School (5th batch), St Augustine, Trinidad.

The following was originally extracted from Wikipedia and has since been updated: "Oscar D. Ramjeet is a Guyanese journalist and lawyer who has served in a variety of legal positions throughout the Caribbean.

that had been vacant for a year since the sudden departure of Tanya Herwanger after only five months on the job. Under his tenure, Belize began setting up the "Fast Track Court in response to the increasing backlog of cases in the Magistrate's Court. The Belize Bar Association expressed concern over the executive branch’s influence on the Fast Oscar D Ramjeet Track Court which they saw as threatening judicial independence.

Ramjeet began his career as an attorney in private practice in his native Guyana in 1979. From 1986 to 1988, Ramjeet served in Montserrat as a Magistrate as well as the Registrar of the High Court. Among other activities while there, he initiated a program to attempt to trace Canadians who purchased land at Spanish Point in the 1960s and 1970s. He took a trip to Toronto that year and was successful at finding thirty two missing landowners.

His career next took him to St Vincent and the Grenadines where he served until 1993 as Solicitor General and acting Director of Public Prosecutions. The following year he moved to the United States Virgin Islands where he first served as Assistant Attorney General before becoming an Administrative Law Judge in 1997 on the island of St. Thomas.

In 2000 he moved to the British Virgin Islands and returned to private practice. One high profile case he took while there was the defence of Michael Spicer when he was charged with the murder of American model Lois Mc Millen in Tortola.

Ramjeet also lobbied the Council of Legal Education to permit the admission of Belizean University of Guyana LL.B students to Jamaica's Norman Manley Law School without the entrance exam.

Under a CARICOM level agreement, the existing arrangement to facilitate UG graduates' entry to Norman Manley Law School applied only to Guyanese nationals. He also oversaw the creation of the Office of International Cooperation and held the position as SG until his contract expired in 2011.

He is also a qualified journalist and an avid cricket fan writing regularly on West Indies cricket. This experience has qualified him to be an excellent candidate to serve as the Editor of this commemorative magazine.

Ramjeet holds an LL,B from the University of the West Indies, a Caribbean Legal Education Certificate, and a diploma in journalism and public relations from West Germany, He also writes columns for the Stabroek News and other Caribbean Newspapers.

Ramjeet was sworn in as Belize's Solicitor General on 15th June 2009, filling the position

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The Council of Legal Education (CLE)

Celebrates 50th Anniversary

by Oscar Ramjeet

T

he Council of Legal Education (CLE) in the Caribbean celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Prior to its establishment, would be lawyers had to journey to the United Kingdom in the bitter cold and at great expense to pursue legal studies in one of the Inns of Court (Middle Temple, Grays Inn are two of the most well known), but that costly and inconvenient exercise ceased, thus paving the way for hundreds if not thousands, to read Law in the Caribbean region and no doubt that is the reason why the region is today flooded with Lawyers.

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YEARS 1971–2021 & Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, St Christopher/Nevis/Anguilla, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent & The Grenadines.

In the Caribbean Law Programme there are no dinners as required by the English training/ tradition. Only Caribbean trained lawyers are allowed to practice in the region, but lawyers who qualified outside the Caribbean are allowed to practice in the region after successfully completing a six month training at one of the three Law Schools. There was a cut off period up to mid-eighties where English trained Lawyers could be admitted to practice.

The Council was established in order to provide training in the Region (rather than in Britain) for Lawyers wishing to practice Law in the region. Its establishment came a year following the establishment of the UWI Faculty of Law at the Cave Hill Campus in Barbados which then established departments on each of the three campuses of UWI. The CLE today operates three Law schools outside of Barbados. The Norman Manley Law School (Jamaica) and the Hugh Wooding Law School (Trinidad and Tobago) were established in 1973 and the Eugene Dupuch Law School in 1998 in the Bahamas. All of these Law Schools were named after outstanding legal eagles in the respective territories.

The CLE was created by the Agreement signed by the Governments of Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and the Universities of the West Indies (UWI) and Guyana (UG). The agreement was penned based on an agreement made in 1970 by those countries as well as Antigua

I am proud to say that nearly all of the Judges in the region today are products of the CLE and graduates of the UWI Law Schools. Most jurisdictions including Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court have Caribbean trained Lawyers as Heads of their respective Judiciary.

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Sir Tapley Seaton, QC, is one of the first graduates of the UWI Law School and he is currently serving as the Governor General of St Kitts/Nevis. Incidentally he was the first Caribbean trained Lawyer to be appointed as Attorney General as well as Queens Counsel.

Dame Sandra Mason – of the first batch of Law Students, is now the first President of the Republic of Barbados having previously served as the Governor General of Barbados.

She was elevated to the highest office after her judicial appointments especially in the Appellate Court.

Jamaican Denis Morrison, a retired Court of Appeal Judge was a Rhodes Scholar. There were/are a few Prime Ministers including Dean Barrow of Belize, Kamala PersadBissessar of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr Kenny D Anthony of St. Lucia, Dr Ralph Gonsalves of St Vincent & The Grenadines and Ben Jones of Grenada.

to Ashton Chase who is now in his 90s, Ralph Ramkarran and Eddie Luckhoo in their seventies.

Like any other institution there were/are a few bad apples among the regional graduates – a few were/are engaged in corrupt practices, excessive drinking, gambling and sexual misconduct. A few were even prosecuted, but all in all the legal profession remains a noble one. In fact, a few Caribbean trained lawyers are lay preachers and spread the word of God. Guyanese jurists Aubrey Fraser was the first Director who headed the Norman Manley Law School and Dr Fenton Ramsahoye, who was Principal of the Hugh Wooding Law School serving as Deputy Director.

I was in the fifth batch, graduating in 1979 from the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad. At that time, the University of Guyana (UG) only offered the first year LLB programme and students had to complete the degree course at the Cave Hill Campus in Barbados. Now students can complete the full LLB degree programme at UG. Guyana’s annual student entry quota to the Law School is 25 and steps are being taken for the intake to be increased.

When I started to practice, the English trained Lawyers did not readily accept the Caribbean trained Lawyers. They called us CARICOM Lawyers. It took some time, but we won their admiration. The profession was fused in 1980 when all Lawyers are called Attorneys at law.

Prior, it was Barrister and Solicitor. Today only a handful of Lawyers in Guyana are English trained and they are all Senior Counsel, I refer

Reginald Armour, SC The CLE in the Caribbean has been in existence for more than 42 years and trained legal practitioners through the three Law Schools. The Council comprises the Attorneys General, the Judiciary, the practicing Bar, the Dean of the Faculty of Law at UWI and the Principals of the three Law Schools. It comprises a Board with a Chairman and 12 members. The current Chairman is Trinidad and Tobago’s Senior Counsel, Reginald Armour.

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Guidelines and Membership of the Council PURPOSE The Council for Legal Education was formally established in 1971 and is this year celebrating its 50th Anniversary since its establishment. Its principal purpose is to train legal practitioners in the Commonwealth Caribbean in fulfilment of its Mission Statement:

In achieving these objectives, we will utilize a variety of design and delivery mechanisms and collaborate with other institutions to ensure that these programmes are world-class, intellectually stimulating and challenging and relevant to the needs of practitioners at all stages of their careers.

“To facilitate the development of competent legal practitioners for the region who, appreciating their responsibility as members of an honourable profession and recognising the needs of their socio-economic environment, are inspired in the pursuit of excellence, the maintenance of high ethical standards, the promotion of social justice and the strengthening of the rule of law.”

This policy shall be implemented and be the guiding force behind each institution of the Council of Legal Education. It shall be distributed and made known to each employee of the Council who shall be required to commit themselves to achievement of objectives and shall be able to contribute to its continuous review and modification through periodic consultation.

It was agreed that Law Faculties to facilitate the training of Legal Practitioners would be established by the University of the West Indies at agreed Campus locations and will be expanded to other territories based on the recommendations and approval of the Council.

MEMBERSHIP a. The Council shall consist of: i. The Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of the West Indies and another member of the faculty nominated by him ii. The Principals of the Law Schools; iii. The Head of the Judiciary of each participating territory; iv. The Attorney-General of each participating territory; v. From each of the four participating territories in which there are now two branches of the legal profession, namely Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana, a Barrister and a Solicitor nominated by their appropriate professional bodies, or in the event of the two branches of the profession at any time becoming fused in any such territory two members of the fused profession nominated by their appropriate professional body;

QUALITY POLICY It is the policy of the Council of Legal Education (CLE) to provide Legal Education and Training to Caribbean nationals at its approved Law Schools that is internationally competitive – producing highly capable and motivated graduates who are equipped to meet the challenges of the legal profession in the 21st century and beyond.

The Council is further committed to developing a reputation for the high quality of its programmes and continuing professional education that allows regional legal practitioners to keep abreast of developments in the profession and develop new skills in fields of emerging importance.

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b.

c.

vi. From each of the other participating territories one member of the profession nominated by the appropriate professional body.

Each member of the Council appointed under paragraphs (v) and (vi) of clause (a) above shall hold office for three years from the date of his appointment and shall be eligible for reappointment. The effective date of appointment of members under the said paragraphs (v) and (vi) shall be the date on which the Council is notified of the appointment.

Each member of the Council may be represented by an alternate to be appointed,

d.

e.

in the case of (i) above by the Dean, in the case of (ii), (iii) and (iv) by the member himself and in the case of (v) and (vi) by the body represented by the member.

A casual vacancy, however, occurring in the case of a member appointed under (v) and (vi) may be filled by the body appointing such member and the person appointed to fill such casual vacancy shall hold office for the remainder of the period of the appointment of the member whose place he fills.

Any committee of the Council shall have the power to co-opt such person or persons as it thinks fit.

The Crest This consists of a male Magnificent Frigate Bird with outstretched wings depicting the idea of freedom under the law with a red throat patch in its breeding season, perched on a gold balance on a wreath alternatively gold and red.

THE SUPPORTERS On the left side a man dressed in a hat and wearing trousers and the sleeves of his open shirt rolled and holding in his hand and resting his foot on an agricultural fork. On the right side a woman dressed in a tartan pattered jupe with bodice and petticoat, wearing a head-dress of Madras cloth and holding in her hand a star-apple plant. The growing plant in the hand of the woman is the symbol of fertility and represents the verdant flora of the region. The man and the woman represent the foundation of the West Indian family life and depict the idea of the law being made by and for the people.

THE BADGE This consists of a gold disc powered with black ermine spots thereon two caimite or starapple leaves, the one on the left showing the upper side and the one on the right showing the under side.

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Chairs of the Council of Legal Education (CLE) 1971–2021 Sir William Douglas, Barbados Dr. Lloyd Barnett, Jamaica Justice Cecil Kelsick, Trinidad &Tobago Justice Christopher Blackman, Barbados Ashton Chase, Guyana Justice Dennis Morrison, Jamaica J. Emile Ferdinand, St. Kitts-Nevis E Ann Henry, Antigua Jacqueline Samuels-Brown, Jamaica Reginald Armour, Trinidad & Tobago

1971 to 1975 1977 to 1983 1983 to 1985 1985 to 1992 1992 to 1998 1998 to 2004 2004 to 2007 2007 to 2010 2010 to 2016 2016 to present

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA

REPUBLIC OF BARBADOS

E. Ann Henry, QC

Christopher Blackman, QC

JAMAICA

REPUBLIC OF GUYANA

Sir William Douglas, QC Dr. Lloyd Barnett, QC Dennis Morrison, QC Jacqueline Samuels-Brown, QC

Ashton Chase, SC

REPUBLIC OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

ST. KITTS-NEVIS

Cecil Kelsick, QC Reginald Armour, SC

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– – – – – – – – – –

J. Emile Ferdinand

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the First Five Chairmen

of the Council of Legal Education

Standing, l-r: JUSTICE CHRISTOPHER BLACKMAN (Barbados) ASHTON CHASE (Guyana) DR LLOYD BARNETT (Jamaica) Sitting, l-r: SIR WILLIAM DOUGLAS (Barbados) JUSTICE CECIL KELSICK (Trinidad)

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Profiles | Chairs of the Council Sir William Randolph Douglas 1971 - 1975

Sir William Randolph Douglas was born in Barbados but his parents emigrated to Canada when he was four years old. He was educated at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec and then went on to read Law at the London School of Economics.

Following his call to the Bar, he returned to Barbados in 1948. In 1959 he became Jamaica’s Assistant Attorney General and was appointed Solicitor General four years later.

In 1965, he was appointed as Chief Justice of Barbados and presided over the island’s judicial administration until 1986. Passionate about justice and with a magnificent intellect, he ensured the Court’s independence. He then served as Barbados’ Ambassador to the United States from 1987 – 1991 and then Barbados’ High Commissioner to London from 1991 – 1993, the climax of his representative career.

He was knighted in 1969 and was made a Privy Councillor eight years later. Douglas was a modest, charming man with a great presence and a delicious and spontaneous Barbadian sense of humour.

He died at age 81.

Hon. Dr. Lloyd Barnett, OJ 1977 - 1983

Dr. Barnett has had a long and distinguished career at the Bar, during which time he became a founding member of the Jamaican Bar Association, serving as its President on two separate occasions, and he continues to be a member of its Council.

Dr. Barnett was Chairman of the General Legal Council, the Jamaica Council for Human Rights, and the Caribbean Council of Legal Education (CLE). He also served as President of the Organization of Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Associations (OCCBA) and has represented the private Bar on the Rules Committee of the Supreme Court.

Dr. Barnett is presently a member of the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission as a nominee of OCCBA and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean Bar Associations.

After 10 years in the Jamaica public service (at the Attorney General’s Chambers and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions) Dr. Barnett has carried on a private practice as a sole practitioner.

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Hon. Cecil Arthur Kelsick, TC Former Chief Justice, Trinidad and Tobago 1983 - 1985

Cecil Arthur Kelsick was a Trinidad and Tobago jurist and former Chief Justice. He was born on 15 July 1920 in Dominica and was educated at Montserrat Grammar School. In 1938, he was awarded the Leeward Islands scholarship to study Law at King’s College, University of London (LLB, 1941; AKC, 1942). He was admitted to practice at the Inner Temple in 1941.

In Trinidad & Tobago, he served as a legal draughtsman and Solicitor General from 1957 to 1977.

He was appointed as a Queen’s Counsel in 1964, a Judge of the High Court on 1 February 1961 and as Chief Justice of Trinidad & Tobago in 1983 until 1985 when he retired from the Bench.

He was awarded the Trinity Cross, Trinidad and Tobago’s highest national honour in 1985. Chief Justice Kelsick died on 29 September 2017, aged 97.

Hon. Justice Christopher Blackman, GCM SC 1985 - 1992 Mr. Justice Christopher Blackman was appointed Chairman of the CARICOM Competition Commission in July 2018 and Chairman of the Employment Rights Tribunal of Barbados in August 2018 for a 3 year term, which has been recently renewed for a similar period.

He is a former non-resident Justice of Appeal of the Belize Court of Appeal, having been appointed to that post on October 1, 2014 for a period of three (3) years. Prior to that, he was a Justice of the Court of Appeal of The Bahamas, serving from March 1, 2008 to December 5, 2014. He served as a High Court Judge of Barbados (2003-2008) and Belize (2001-2003).

Mr. Justice Blackman who qualified as a Solicitor in 1970 was in private practice as a Partner and later Managing Partner of the law firm of Carrington & Sealy (established in August 1872). He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1987, served as President of the Barbados Bar Association (1983-86) and as an Independent Senator (1986-1990) in the Barbados Parliament. From 1985 to 1992 he served as Chairman of the Caribbean Council of Legal Education and from 1996 to 2001 as Chairman of the Police Service Commission. Since its inception in 2005, Mr. Justice Blackman has been a member of the Eminent Persons Panel of the Anthony N. Sabga Caribbean Awards for Excellence. In the 2000 Barbados Independence Honours List, he was awarded the Gold Crown of Merit for law and public service.

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Mr Ashton Chase, SC 1992 - 1998

Ashton Chase was born in Georgetown, British Guiana, and was associated with trade union activity and later entered the political arena and became Minister of Labour, Industry, and Commerce in the first PPP government in 1953.

Chase went to England in 1954, where he read law and was called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn in 1957, the same year that he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree with honors from London University. Following his return to British Guiana, Chase served as a Member of Parliament from 1964 to 1968, and was appointed Senior Counsel in 1985.

In addition to serving from 1970 to 1974 as a member of the Public Service Commission, from 1971 to 1973 Chase was Vice President of the Guyana Economic Society. On various occasions he served as President of the Guyana Bar Association from the 1980s to 1998 and as a member of the Council of Legal Education (CLE).

J. Emile Ferdinand QC 2004 - 2007

Emile Ferdinand was born in St Kitts, where he received his early education. He holds a Bachelor of Laws degree, with honours, from the University of the West Indies and a Master of Laws degree from the University of Cambridge (Trinity College).

During the course of his education he received a number of academic awards, including the 1977 St Kitts and Nevis State Scholarship; a 1979 Mark of Merit at the Faculty of Law, UWI, Cave Hill, Barbados; the 1981-83 Most Outstanding Student Award at the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica, where he graduated first in his class in 1983, the year of his admission to the Bar in St Kitts and Nevis; a 1985 Commonwealth Scholarship (United Kingdom); and the Lizette Bentwich Prize for good performance in the Master of Laws (LL.M.) examinations at Trinity College, Cambridge University in 1986.

Mr. Ferdinand is admitted to practice law in a number of Caribbean jurisdictions. He has worked as a university law tutor, a Crown Counsel in the Chambers of the Attorney General and the DPP and an Acting Judge of the Eastern Caribbean High Court. He has been in private legal practice since 1986 and was appointed a Queen’s Counsel in 2012.

He has served as President of the St Kitts and Nevis Bar Association, and Chairman of the Caribbean’s Council of Legal Education (CLE) which operates Law Schools in Trinidad, Jamaica and The Bahamas.

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Hon. Justice C. Dennis Morrison, OJ CD QC 1998 - 2004

Justice C. Dennis Morrison was educated at the University of the West Indies, the Norman Manley Law School and Oxford University after being named a Jamaica Rhodes Scholar in 1975.

He was called to the Bar in Jamaica in 1975 and practiced Law with the firm of Dunn, Cox & Orrett for over 25 years. In 1994 he was appointed Queen’s Counsel.

In 2008 he was appointed to the Court of Appeal of Jamaica and in 2016 he was appointed President of the Court of Appeal of Jamaica. Justice Morrison served as a Judge of the Court of Appeal of Belize (2004-2015); acted as a Judge of the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal (January 2015); and has been a Judge of the Court of Appeal of the Cayman Islands since May 2015.

Ms E. Ann Henry QC 2007 - 2010

Ms. E. Ann Henry QC qualified as an Attorney-at-Law in 1981 and is admitted to practice in Antigua and Barbuda, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat and Anguilla.

Ms. Henry, who was appointed as one of Her Majesty’s Counsel in 2012 has been engaged in private practice in Antigua and Barbuda since 1983 and is the Managing Partner in the Firm of Henry & Burnette.

She served as Chairman of the Council of Legal Education between 2007 and 2010.

Ms. Henry has acted as a Judge of the Industrial Court of Antigua and Barbuda. She has also acted as a High Court Judge and more recently as a Justice of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.

Ms Jacqueline Samuels-Brown QC 2010 - 2016

Jacqueline Samuels-Brown was called to the bar in 1980 and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2010. She has extensive experience in advocacy, spanning criminal, civil law, constitutional law, extradition and judicial review. (continued)

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She appears regularly at the appellate and trial levels in Courts in Jamaica as well as at Commissions of Enquiry and regulatory and disciplinary tribunals. Mrs. Samuels-Brown is a member of the Rules Committee of the Supreme Court and also practices in other courts in the English-speaking Caribbean and has appeared in the Privy Council. She is a former Chairman of the Council of Legal Education, a former President of the Jamaican Bar Association and she continues to serve as a member of the Council of the Jamaican Bar Association.

Mrs. Samuels-Brown is a member of the Advocates Association of Jamaica, founding member of the American Association of Jurists (Jamaica), member of the Jamaican, Guyanese and Grenadian Bars; and has been admitted to practice in the Turks & Caicos Islands and the Cayman Islands.

Mrs. Samuels Brown has carried out assignments for the analysis of proposed legislation and recommendations for presentation to Joint Select Committees of Parliament. Additionally, she has been a member of Committees appointed by Government to consider amendments to legislation.

Mr Reginald T. A. Armour SC 2016 - Current

Reginald T. A. Armour SC. is an Attorney at Law in private practice, specializing in the areas of commercial law, labour relations, constitutional and public law and, as consultant Counsel to his clients.

He was appointed a Senior Counsel by the President of Trinidad and Tobago in 2003 and has a wide Caribbean legal practice. He has represented his clients before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, Courts of Appeal and High Courts across the Caribbean.

He is the head of Marie de Vere Chambers in Port of Spain, Trinidad, originally founded in the late 1980s by Mr. Frank Solomon SC. Mr. Armour is the current President of the Law Association of Trinidad & Tobago and the Chairman of the Council of Legal Education, the regional legal body under whose auspices exist the three (3) Caribbean Law Schools in Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and the Bahamas.

He has served as an acting Justice of Appeal in the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, an acting High Court Judge of the Supreme Court of Trinidad & Tobago, and is a former member of the Law Reform Commission and the Legal Aid Authority of Trinidad and Tobago, among others.

In 2007, he was appointed by the President of Trinidad & Tobago to serve as Tribunal Counsel to the 2007 Mustill Tribunal and, more recently (2012) by the Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court as Tribunal Counsel in St. Lucia to the Stollmeyer Tribunal. Both of these Tribunals were constitutional Tribunals established to investigate and report on judicial misbehaviour.

He has co-authored with the late Professor Ralph Carnegie a Report & Recommendations, commissioned by the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Secretariat and entitled National Constitutional Issues of an OECS Economic Union and, has written in the areas of public law and labour relations.

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A Nutshell Reminiscence of the First 3 years There’s a Bajan saying: 50 years ain’t 50 days.

This adage emphasises the need to be alerted to the passage and value of time. I am therefore heartened that our 50 years of the Faculty of Law is being enshrined and immortalised in history through this publication.

I recall in 1970 how the establishment of the Faculty caused an unearthing of a plethora of doubting Thomases. There was doubt whether the Faculty could or would succeed, there was doubt whether it could or would be sustained, there was doubt whether the UWI Lawyers would be accepted by the region. In other words, much like Nathanael in the biblical book of John, there was general conjecture whether anything good could come out of Nazareth, or in this instance, the UWI. Our Caribbean societies were accustomed only to the British trained Barristers and Solicitors.

Need I say that we have since negated that supposition?

When we, the First Cohort, entered the UWI Cave Hill Campus over 50 years ago, some of us were neophytes to the culture of University life, so it was with trepidation, but yet with eagerness and the excitement of adventure, that we took our places in the First Class.

The trepidation prevailed over the other emotions when the illustrious, now late Professor Ralph Carnegie, fresh from Oxford University, and decked out in formal attire and pacing up and down, sought to introduce us to Administrative Law and to Case Law. We listened in amazement, hardly understanding anything but struck by his stentorian and authoritative delivery of the subject. We

by H.E. Dame Sandra Mason, President, Republic of Barbados immediately flocked to the library after the lecture to gauge what our next move had to be. It was then that we realised the mammoth task before us.

However, despite the initial fear, we were eager and resolute in our determination to conquer the beast which was by that time compounded by a rumour then circulating around campus that the Faculty intended to pass only a percentage of the students. In today’s parlance, that proved to be fake news but it however served as our motivation and managed to catapult us into feverish academic activity.

Some of us felt that the rumour was born out of a quixotic and inexplicable belief that this first group of Law students saw themselves as a special clique. In that first year, we were regarded with suspicion but by the end of our undergraduate life we were fully accepted and assimilated into the UWI family. The camaraderie which existed among the Law students never allowed for any feelings of inadequacy. Our awe at the enormity of our task was not dimmed by the end of the first year partly because we recognised that we were the pioneers.

By this time, we had been hugely supported by lecturers and tutors whose breadth of knowledge represented some of the best and brightest legal minds and who we accepted were invested in ensuring our success.

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By the third year, we were confident that we were on the threshold of making our mark in the Caribbean and beyond. This feeling was buoyed by the encouragement which came from our first Dean, the late Professor Keith Patchett, when during one of his Family Law lectures in our final year, contemplatively gazed at the class and remarked “You know that you all will be the future leaders?” It is my belief that it was not only to that first class that he was addressing his reflections but the future of the Law Faculty.

the number of Queen’s Counsels (QC) and Senior Counsels (SC), High Court and Court of Appeal Judges, Chief Justices, Prime Ministers, Attorneys General and Ministers of Justice, Governors General and Presidents and the jewel in our crown, the Caribbean Court of Justice where six (6) of the seven (7) Judges are products of these august institutions.

Each of us can stand proudly and proclaim: veni, vidi, vici.

We can also unhesitatingly assert that the UWI Law Faculty having stood the test of time, can rest on its laurels as it remains an integral part of the University of the West Indies.

To date the majority of the Caribbean trained Lawyers have taken the helm in many spheres and have become those future leaders. Witness

Some of the students of the First Cohort of Law Students at the CLE Law School, Jamaica

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1. Dame Sandra Mason – QC, Former Governor-General and current President, Republic of Barbados.

2. Sir Tapley Seaton – QC, former Attorney General and current Governor-General of St Kitts – Nevis.

3. Dean Barrow – SC, former Prime Minister of Belize.

4. Sir Samuel Sosa – former Chief Justice and President, Court of Appeal of Belize.

5. Justice Dennis Morrison – QC, Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal of Jamaica, Cayman Islands and Turks & Caicos Islands, CCJ Judge.

6. Justin Simon – QC, Former Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Antigua & Barbuda.

7. Clement Lashley – QC, Barbados.

8. The late Hilford Deterville – QC, President of the Senate – St Lucia.

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Reflections of the First Cohort

by Sir Tapley Seaton QC

A Distinguished CLE Law School Alumni and Caribbean Citizen Governor-General Saint Kitts and Nevis

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consider it a distinct privilege to be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Faculty of Law of the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus and the Council of Legal Education of the West Indies through its Law Schools – the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad and the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica.

I was further privileged to have been a member of the 1st Class of these Institutions.

What a thrill in 1970 to commence the study of Law in our own Caribbean. Barbados was a new experience but a welcome one as we developed lifelong friendships and have lasting memories. With the passage of time, we have lost some of our classmates but we often reflect on the way in which each supported and encouraged each other as we had no past papers to review but in our own way were making footsteps in history for all to follow. We reflect also on our Professors, Lecturers and other staff who facilitated our studies and inspired us all to do well. We are grateful for their outstanding contributions to our well­being.

Coming from our respective Island homes we can now reflect on our early contribution to regional integration. We were fortunate to be continuing the rich legacy of the University of the West Indies which continues to excel

in scholarship and in its contribution to the development of our Caribbean experience and civilization.

We recognize that so many of our members have contributed in noteworthy ways not only in the practice of Law but in high Office.

Two of us became Heads of State whether as Governor-General or President, others as Prime Ministers, Premier, Deputy Prime Ministers, Attorneys General, Ambassadors and other Members of Government and Civil Society, Heads of Law Schools and Tutors and in so many other Offices. It is indeed a noteworthy achievement.

As we bring our celebratory years to a close, let our Institutions continue to contribute meaningfully to our National and Regional Development.

My very best wishes to all!

Sir Tapley Seaton QC

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A Profile | Sir Samuel Weymouth

Tapley Seaton, QC Sir Tapley has an enviable record of public as well as private service. He was among the first group of graduates of the Faculty of Law, UWI at the Cave Hill Campus.

He has made his mark as a regional pioneer in the field. He became the first of the cohort to be appointed Attorney General in 1980 at the age of 29 and was the youngest Attorney General in the Commonwealth. He served as Attorney General of St. Kitts and Nevis for 15 years becoming the longest serving AG in the region.

In 1985 he was awarded the rank of Commander of the Royal Victorian Order by

Queen Elizabeth during a Royal visit to St Kitts/Nevis in 1988.

After his service ended in 1995, Seaton was in private practice for 20 years. He since was elected President of the St Kitts/Nevis Bar Association and later President of the OECS Bar Association.

In September 2015 he was appointed Governor General of St Kitts and Nevis and later that year he was conferred a knighthood by the Queen. In September 2019 he received an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the University of the West Indies

In 1966, the UWI’s third oldest campus obtained a permanent home at Cave Hill, Barbados. It achieved full-fledged campus status with the establishment of the Faculty of Law in 1970.

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The University of the West Indies | One University, Five Campuses Originally started as an independent offshoot of the University of London, The University of the West Indies currently serves 17 English-speaking regional territories, offering undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in numerous fields of study: the arts, sciences, business, law, humanities.

Although St. Augustine is the main campus in Trinidad and Tobago, there is also a satellite campus in nearby Mount Hope that houses the Faculty of Medical Sciences. The university was founded in 1948 in Mona, Jamaica, as The University College of the West Indies, based on a recommendation by the Asquith Commission, which had been established five years prior to review the state of higher education in the thenBritish colonies. Fourteen years after the Mona campus opened, in 1962, the college received independent university status, in the same year that Jamaica itself received independence from Great Britain.

The St Augustine, Trinidad Campus of the regional university, which began in 1960, was borne out of the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture; Barbados’ Cave Hill campus

came on stream three years after. In 2008, the Open Campus was opened – the culmination of previous iterations of UWI extra-mural and distance-learning institutions. In 2019, the Five Islands campus in Antigua and Barbuda was added. The four locations have key faculties that are common to all the territories – Humanities and Education, for instance, and Social Sciences, all mainstream disciplines. St. Augustine, however, is the only campus that boasts a Faculty of Food and Agriculture, an area of expertise that has long been interwoven into the history of the Caribbean islands.

WE AIM HIGH The UWI is internationally recognized as a centre of excellence in research, knowledge creation and innovation on matters related to the Caribbean and small island states. We aim to provide a high quality teaching and learning environment, facilitate critical thinking, and produce graduates who are equipped to innovate regionally and impact globally. The UWI’s faculty and students come from more than 40 countries and The University has collaborative links with over 160 universities globally.

From its humble beginnings in 1948, The UWI has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a fully-fledged, regional University with over 50,000 students.

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RELEVANCE TO THE REGION In its commitment to enhancing Caribbean development, UWI’s focal areas are linked closely to CARICOM’s development priorities.

They take into account region-wide areas of concern such as environmental issues, health and wellness, gender equity and the critical importance of innovation. UWI St. Augustine is the ideal institution for local and international students with an interest in Caribbean society.

HIGHLY QUALIFIED STAFF Our highly qualified faculty and researchers are the best available locally, regionally and internationally. They are committed to ensuring

that UWI produces high quality research and graduates who follow our proud tradition of initiating change in the region.

CAMPUS LIFE Both within and outside of the classroom, St. Augustine promises a stimulating campus life within a distinctly vibrant and cosmopolitan community. The highest quality student experience is only complete when it includes exploring the wide array of student clubs and associations, sporting activities and the exciting social scene.

We inspire excellence and produce leaders.

Find out more about our history: https://sta.uwi.edu/history/

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The Faculty of Law, UWI | A History and Overview The establishment of the Faculty of Law of the University of the West Indies was an achievement of West Indian regional cooperation, promoted under the leadership of the late Sir Hugh Wooding of Trinidad & Tobago and Sir Roy Marshall of Barbados.

The Faculty opened its doors in October 1970 to undergraduates with 24 students at Mona, Jamaica, 19 at St. Augustine, Trinidad, 35 at Cave Hill, Barbados and 13 at the University of Guyana.

The building at Cave Hill, Barbados was first occupied during the academic year of 19731974, and the Library’s resources became fully available for use for the first time.

FACULTY OVERVIEW The Faculty of Law offers both an Undergraduate and Postgraduate Programme.

The Undergraduate Programme is divided into 3 parts. Parts I – III are offered at the Cave Hill, St. Augustine and Mona Campuses, with Part I (only) being offered at the Turkeyen Campus of the University of Guyana.

Students who graduate from the Undergraduate Programme are awarded the LL.B. (Bachelor of Law), while those who successfully complete graduate studies in the Faculty are awarded the Graduate Diploma, LL.M., M.Phil and Ph.D. The M.Phil and Ph.D. by research are available to suitably qualified candidates.

The Faculty of Law prides itself with being well equipped to provide legal education with modern day technologies accompanying well qualified expert staff, with both academic and practical expertise. The Faculty staff integrate with the wider legal community on matters ranging from legal advice to statutory analysis.

For further information on the History of the Faculty of Law, please see ‘The Faculty of Law of the University of the West Indies: In Retrospect’ by Professor A.R. Carnegie available at the Faculty of Law Library, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados.

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The CLE Law Schools THE HUGH WOODING LAW SCHOOL The Hugh Wooding Law School at Trinidad’s St Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) opened its doors to its first students in September 1973 and was named after the outstanding and illustrious Jurist Sir Hugh Wooding of Trinidad & Tobago. www.hwls.edu.tt/

THE NORMAN MANLEY LAW SCHOOL Like the Council of Legal Education’s other Law School, the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica was also established in 1973 at the UWI Mona Campus in Kingston and was named after Hon Norman Manley, a former Prime Minister of Jamaica. http://nmls.edu.jm/

THE EUGENE DUPUCH LAW SCHOOL The Eugene Dupuch Law School, the third Law School of the Council of Legal Education was established in The Bahamas in 1998, and was named after Eugene Dupuch – the famous Bahamian Lawyer and Politician. https://eugenedupuchlaw.edu.bs/

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Dame Janice M. Pereira, DBE, LL.D. CHIEF JUSTICE Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court

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www.eccourts.org

wish to extend hearty congratulations to the Council of Legal Education on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. Half a century ago, the Council was formed to facilitate the development of competent legal practitioners for the Commonwealth Caribbean. It has since made great strides towards fulfilling its mandate through the establishment of two Law Schools initially in 1973: the Norman Manley Law School and the Hugh Wooding Law School, and a third, the Eugene Dupuch Law School, in 1998.

This afforded many persons such as myself an opportunity to receive legal training closer to home. For this, I owe the Council a debt of gratitude.

I recall my time at the Norman Manley Law School from 1979 to 1981 as being filled with great learning moments. In 1981, I returned to the Virgin Islands having received a legal education as well as having fostered deep regional ties and friendships from among my 46 classmates, many of whom have become legal luminaries serving in various capacities within and outside of the region. The exponential increase in the cohort of students attending the Law Schools since my time is striking as now hundreds of persons graduate from the three Law Schools every year. This is quite an achievement measured on any scale, one which augurs well for the future of the legal profession in the Caribbean.

As Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, I hope that for the next 50 years the Council maintains and enhances its delivery of legal education in an ever-changing legal environment. It is important that the curriculum remains relevant, vibrant and practical in the context of the new and diverse areas of legal practice emerging each day.

There is also an urgent need for the Council to become more accessible to a wider range of students across the region – sooner rather than later.

I take this opportunity to commend the dedication and hard work of the Council over the years and more so for ensuring that students were able to continue their studies with minimal interruption, despite the current restrictions on in-person learning resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. It is imperative that the Council continues to punch well above its weight as a provider of world class legal education and training rivaling that of any developed country, despite the many challenges being faced.

Best wishes for another enterprising fifty years.

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Congratulatory Messages Alison Roxane McLean George CCH, SC

JUSTICE OF APPEAL AND ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE OF GUYANA LLB (Honours, Upper Second Class), UWI (Cave Hill) M. St. International Human Rights Law (Distinction), University of Oxford

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ongratulations to the Council of Legal Education on celebrating 50 years of providing sound and excellent legal education in the Commonwealth Caribbean region.

It is with a sense of great pride that I can say that I am a graduate of the Hugh Wooding Law School (HWLS), Class of 1990. My two years at Law School were enriching in both scholastic and extra-curricula activities. I was fortunate to have been adjudged the Most Outstanding Student and the Best Graduating Guyanese Student, 1990.

My journey to joining the legal profession was most likely influenced by the fact that my late father was a lawyer. He was Justice Kenneth George, who was Chief Justice of Guyana at the time I commenced reading law at the University of Guyana in 1985, and Chancellor of the Judiciary when I graduated from HWLS. My father did not actively encourage me to pursue law but no doubt was quite pleased when I did so. He, however, did encourage me to take up a judicial appointment rather than seek confirmation as Director of Public Prosecutions, a position in which I had been acting for two years immediately before I was sworn in as a Puisne Judge on December 31, 2004. I know that he was proud of this

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achievement and I am thankful that he was able to witness the swearing in ceremony.

Justice Desiree Bernard, then Chief Justice of Guyana, also encouraged me to join the High Court bench. She candidly explained the rigours of judicial office, and was a source of mentorship. I must acknowledge the sound advice of my father that I must command respect in all that I do. This wise counsel has stood me in good stead throughout my judicial career as a Puisne Judge, Justice of Appeal and as Chief Justice acting, a position I have held since February 24, 2017. Being a judge has been and will continue to be a most humbling but rewarding experience.

I am aware that in the early years there were many uncomplimentary remarks about the lawyers who were trained at the regional law schools in comparison to those trained in England. These remarks have proven to be unfounded. Fifty years on, the contribution of regionally trained lawyers to the jurisprudence of the Caribbean, the Commonwealth and the world has been most erudite and a source of pride. We have held our own on the world stage and will continue to do so. Lawyers who appear before me are both English and regionally trained. I detect no difference in the presentation of their cases and legal arguments.

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Indeed, the highest traditions and ethics of the legal profession have been maintained.

The future of legal education in the Commonwealth Caribbean must embrace the highly technological age in which we live.

As the program administered by the Council of Legal Education continues to evolve, our lawyers must be equipped to promote emerging areas such as artificial intelligence and the law.

They must be innovative change agents as we seek to grapple with a rapidly evolving legal rights landscape that requires greater flexibility in thought and application. Importantly, given our socio-economic and environmental vulnerabilities as small territories, our lawyers must be better equipped with the skills to ably represent our region in international negotiations. Concomitantly, there should be

greater exposure to the procedures of other systems of law, especially the civil law systems which are also present in our region. Another area for development is exposure to anti-money laundering protocols in the context of providing professional legal services. In addition, our budding lawyers must be better equipped to deal with the stresses of the profession. Therefore, the importance of mental health and well-being must be integrated into their training. The Council of Legal Education is well placed to promote the necessary transformation of the legal profession.

Best wishes for the next fifty years as the Council of Legal Education continues to fulfill its mission “to facilitate the development of competent legal practitioners for the region”.

Mr. Justice Ivor Archie, ORTT CHIEF JUSTICE The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago

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t is my privilege to bring greetings to the Council of Legal Education on reaching the significant milestone of its Fiftieth Anniversary. The Council, by its existence, embodies the spirit of Caribbean unity and is a tangible manifestation of the twin aspirations of regional integration and autochthonous legal education and jurisprudence. As the body charged with the education and training of legal professionals in the region, its alumni play an essential role in the safeguarding of our independence and our collective adherence to the rule of law.

Furthermore, the opportunity afforded by

the network of Law Schools in the region for students from various territories to mingle has led to a greater appreciation of our legal and cultural diversity. As a member of Council and a proud graduate of the Hugh Wooding Law School, I am honoured to follow in the footsteps of the many awardees of the Legal Education Certificate who have gone on to distinguish themselves at the bar, as jurists, in politics and as academics. I therefore, applaud this singular achievement of the Council of Legal Education and pledge my continued support for all its endeavours.

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Tillman Thomas,BSc, LLB, LEC FRANCO CHAMBERS & CO.

Former Prime Minister of Grenada, 2008-2013

www.francochambers.com

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t is with a sense of gratitude that I congratulate the Council of Legal Education on its 50th Anniversary.

The establishment of the Council of Legal Education fifty years ago as an Institute was like a dream come true for those of us who aspired to become Attorneys-at-Law or Legal Practitioners in Caricom States.

Prior to the establishment of the Council of Legal Education in the Region the challenges faced in being called to the Bar were numerous in particular the cost of travel to London and also the cost of accommodation.

With the coming into being of the Council of Legal Education where an opportunity is provided for obtaining a Certificate of Legal Education at any of the Law Schools within Caricom, the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica, the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad and Tobago and the Eugene Dupuch Law School in the Bahamas accessibility to obtaining a legal education is no longer a serious challenge.

I graduated from the Hugh Wooding Law School in 1978 and was admitted to the Grenada Bar the same year. However, there were some interruptions in my practice. In July of 1981 I was detained by the People’s Revolution Government until the 26th of October 1983 and in 1990 I was a Minister of Government up to 1995 and in 2008 I was appointed Prime Minister and occupied the office up until 2013.

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In 2008 my younger brother Andre Thomas graduated from the Hugh Wooding Law School and in 2014 my daughter Rae Thomas graduated from the Hugh Wooding Law School and we now have a Law Firm known as Franco Chambers & Co. The location of the Law School in Trinidad is quite accommodating to aspiring Attorneys in the Southern Caribbean because historically migration to Trinidad from neighbouring territories has been a way of life and there is that family connection so going to Law School in Trinidad for me was also an opportunity to reconnect with my aunt who resided in Tunapuna which is a five minute drive to the Law School at St. Augustine.

The Council also provides a six months course for Common Law Professionals generally from England and Canada leading to the award of the Legal Education Certificate. This provides a golden opportunity for Attorneys with Caribbean roots who want to relocate to the region.

As an Institution, the Council of Legal Education has served the region well and graduates from the Council are today serving as Judges at all levels, Legal Practitioners and as Leaders in Politics and Business.

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Sir Hugh Wooding

The Rt. Hon. Norman Manley

The Hon. Eugene Dupuch 27

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Sir Hugh Wooding QC, OBE (1904–1974) The Hugh Wooding Law School opened its doors to its first students in September 1973. Like the Council of Legal Education’s other Law Schools, the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica which was also established in 1973, and the Eugene Dupuch Law School, the third Law School of the Council of Legal Education established in The Bahamas in 1998, it prepares students for admission to practice in the Commonwealth Caribbean territories.

The Hugh Wooding Law School is named after an illustrious jurist of the campus territory Trinidad and Tobago, Sir Hugh Wooding.

Sir Hugh Olliviere Beresford Wooding was born in 1904 in Trinidad of Barbadian parentage. His academic brilliance was evidenced early in his life with the award of an exhibition to Queen’s Royal College in 1914 where he excelled in academics and again earned an island scholarship to study law at Middle Temple.

At Middle Temple, Sir Hugh again distinguished himself by being the Inns of Court Prizeman in Constitutional Law and Legal History in 1925 and won the Inns of Court Studentship in 1926 which was the first ever for any Caribbean student. He was also awarded the Certificate of Honour as had Norman Manley before him.

Sir Hugh returned to Trinidad in 1926 after a period of pupillage in London and was admitted to the Bar of Trinidad and Tobago on July 5, 1927. He immediately went into private practice where he again excelled. In practice, Sir Hugh epitomised the excellence for which most attorneys strive and was given

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the nickname “Tiger” for his tenacity in furthering the cause of his client. Sir Hugh, in his career, acted for both prosecution and defence. He had a reputation for charging modest fees and for doing work at no cost for those he thought could not afford it.

He was a man of indisputable integrity and honesty.

His success at the Bar was phenomenal and transcended Trinidad and Tobago. In fact, he became the quintessential Caribbean man. It is said by his biographer, Selwyn Ryan, that he practised throughout the Caribbean and perhaps had a greater reputation in some territories like Jamaica than in Trinidad and Tobago. His professional achievements included being called to become Chief Justice directly from the private Bar in 1962 and being made a Councillor to Her Majesty the Queen’s Privy Council Sir Hugh’s contribution was not only to the law, but he also became involved in city politics from 1941 and was elected Mayor in 1943. Other aspects of what was a tireless life included active participation in freemasonry and he was an avid patron of the arts. Sir Hugh was a key architect in the process of constitution reform in Trinidad and Tobago and chaired the Constitution Commission in the early 1970’s which made many innovative recommendations on constitution reform which were later rejected by the then government. In 1971, he became Chancellor of the University of the West Indies.

His excursions into education also led him to be one of pioneers and founding fathers of West Indian legal education.

Sir Hugh died on July 26, 1974 of a heart attack.

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The Rt. Hon. Norman Washington Manley (1893–1969) Norman Washington Manley was born on July 4, 1893, at Roxborough in Manchester, Jamaica. His father, Thomas Albert Samuel Manley, was a planter and produce dealer from Porus and his mother Margaret Ann (nee Shearer), a small pen keeper from Blenheim in Hanover.

He was children.

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Manley spent his early years on his father’s property at Roxborough. Thomas Manley died while his son was still a young boy and soon afterwards his widow Margaret Manley and her young children left Manchester for St. Catherine, where she had a property called Belmont.

University, gained First Class Honours and won the Lee Prizeman (Essay) Award at Gray’s Inn before being called to the Bar in 1921. In that same year he married his cousin Edna Swithenbank.

Almost simultaneously with the beginning of his work with the Jamaica Welfare Ltd., Manley became deeply involved in the economic and political upheaval of the 1930’s. He was involved in union activities, which led to the establishment of the Trade Union Congress (TUC). As soon as the first period of turmoil was over, Manley went to various parts of Jamaica, recruiting persons to come to Kingston to take part in the formation of a political party.

Norman Manley was registered at Guanaboa Vale Elementary School at eight years old.

He excelled in the classroom and began his secondary education at Wolmer’s Boys’ School in Kingston for a year. However, the following year he drew nearer home and attended Beckford and Smith’s in Spanish Town. Later on, he won an Open Scholarship to Jamaica College where his gift for athletics found full expression. After leaving school he taught at Jamaica College, Hope Farm School until he received news that he had won the Rhodes Scholarship.

On September 18, 1938 the People’s National Party (PNP) was launched at a huge meeting at the Ward Theatre. The formation of this party was indeed the beginning of the national movement for self-government. Six years later, in 1944, the first election was held under Adult Suffrage. The People’s National Party was largely responsible for paving the way towards the establishment of the new Constitution, which gave all Jamaicans the right to vote. The party was, however, defeated at the polls that year but won in 1955.

He read Law at Jesus College, Oxford where his studies were interrupted by World War I. In 1919 he resumed his studies at Oxford

During his years of administration Manley placed great emphasis on agriculture, education and industry. In 1959, the PNP achieved one of

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its primary goals, that of self-government. The Jamaican Government now became responsible for the internal affairs of the country, and Manley, the former Chief Minister was from then on addressed as Premier.

Mr. Manley had suffered a series of heart attacks dating from 1953, and he was forced into early retirement in 1969 due to ill health.

His last public appearance was made in July 1969 when he received the Jamaica School of Agriculture Gold Medal for distinguished service to Jamaican agriculture. He became ill on Monday September 1, 1969, fell into a coma and died the following afternoon. He was 77 years old.

HONOURS • In 1932 Norman Manley was made King’s Counsel • The Howard University conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Law in 1946.

• He was voted a life member of the Congress of International Organisations by the United Transport Service Employees in Chicago.

• A speech made by Manley at the National Press Club in Washington was published in the Congressional Record.

• In 1961 he was made an honorary citizen of Kansas City, Missouri, USA. • The Order of National Hero, the highest Jamaican Honour was conferred on Norman Manley after his death.

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• His birthplace at Roxborough in Manchester is a National Monument • A memorial has been erected on the site of his grave in the National Shrine, at National Heroes Park.

• The Norman Manley Award of Excellence has been established and is awarded annually to Jamaicans who have given distinguished service to their country.

• The Norman Manley Law School at the UWI Mona Campus in Jamaica was named in his honour.

• The Norman Manley International Airport in Montego Bay, Jamaica was named in his honour.

USA President John F. Kennedy in meeting with Hon. Norman Manley.

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The Hon. Eugene Dupuch CBE, QC Established by the Council of Legal Education (Caribbean), The Eugene Dupuch Law School, opened its doors to its first students in September 1998.

Like its sibling schools, the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad and Tobago and the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica, both established in 1973, the Eugene Dupuch Law School prepares students for admission to practice in Caribbean territories. It is here that our students obtain post graduate legal education, before being admitted to the Bars of various Caribbean countries.

The Law School is named after the famed politician and lawyer, the late Hon. Eugene Dupuch Q.C. Mr. Dupuch began his career as a journalist before moving on to politics and law. He received a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Toronto, Canada in 1947 and was called to The Bar at Lincoln’s Inn, London and at Nassau, The Bahamas in 1948. He was made a Queen’s Counsel in 1964. He was a member of the Bar Council of The Bahamas Bar Association and a member of the Executive Council from 1953 – 1964. In 1953 Mr. Dupuch was awarded the Coronation Medal and was permitted by Her Majesty the Queen to retain the title of “The Honourable”. He served as a Member of the House of Assembly representing the Crooked

Island District from 1950 – 1962 and the East Central District, New Providence from 1962 – 1967.

We are proud to celebrate over 20 years of excellence in legal education and our commitment to social service.

EDLS began with just 28 students and the support of a small number of dedicated faculty and staff at the former Oakes Field campus.

In 2018, we moved to a new state of the art facility at City Corporate Centre on Rosetta Street in Palmdale.

Over the past 20 years EDLS has matriculated more than 450 students who are now practicing lawyers across the globe. To date, students who have graduated from the Eugene Dupuch Law School have come to us from Anguilla, Antigua, The Bahamas, Barbados, the Turks & Caicos Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent & The Grenadines, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the United States of America and Canada.

Through our training programmes, social outreach, community activities and collaboration with civil society, the Eugene Dupuch Law School strives to meet the needs of our students, contribute to the advancement of the region and the support of the rule of law.

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Principals of the Law Schools Norman Manley Law School

Ms. O. A. Carol Aina was admitted to practice in England in 1988 and the Jamaican Bar in 1995.

Ms. Aina was a partner in the law firm Ackroyd & Aina in London where she specialized in civil litigation and family law. She was a member of the Law Society’s Children Panel and acted as an advisor to the Family Rights Group on a research project about the experience of families in compulsory child care proceedings in the United Kingdom. She was a lecturer in their Child Care Law and Practice Courses between 1991 and 1992 when the Children Act 1991 was implemented.

In 1995, Ms. Aina returned to Jamaica and joined the litigation department of the law firm DunnCox. To date, she remains a Consultant to the firm.

In September 1997, she was appointed Course Director for Civil Procedure & Practice 1 at the Norman Manley Law School. She has been an active member of both the Civil Procedure and Family Law Committees of the Jamaican Bar Association. She has also been a member of the Rules Committee of Jamaica for several years and was commended for her contribution to the preparation of the Civil Procedure Rules for Jamaica. She has chaired and presented papers on Civil Procedure to several organizations and was the Chair of the Continuing Legal Education Committee of the Jamaica Bar Association from 2011-2014.

Ms. O.A. Carol Aina, CD Principal

Ms. Aina was also appointed as a Consultant to the CARICOM Legislative Drafting Facility in 2004, to prepare draft rules for the Caribbean Court of Justice.

In 2005-2006, while on Sabbatical from the law school, Miss Aina was appointed as an Adjunct Professor and as the Caribbean Law Programme Visiting Distinguished Scholar at the Shepard Broad Law Centre at Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Ms. Aina was appointed to act as Principal between September 2006 to August 2008. She was subsequently appointed as the Senior Tutor from September 2008 until her substantive appointment as Principal on November 1, 2012.

She is a Certified Mediator, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and holds a diploma in International Arbitration. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership and Management, with Merit, from the University of Nottingham.

On August 6, 2019, Ms. Aina was conferred the National Honour of the Order of Distinction in the rank of Commander (CD) for outstanding contribution to Law and Legal Education.

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Ms Miriam Samaru is a national of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. She holds the following qualifications: LL.B. Honours, LL.M. Distinction (Law of the Sea and International Maritime Law), Legal Education Certificate (Hugh Wooding Law School). She was called to the Bar in Trinidad and Tobago in 1982 and in Saint Lucia in 1996. She has worked in Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Saint Lucia and The Bahamas. She held the post of Solicitor General of Saint Lucia until 1999. During that time, she served on several state boards. She was also a member of the Adoption Board of Trinidad and Tobago for several years. In 2001, she was appointed Principal of the Eugene Dupuch Law School in The Bahamas and in 2008 she was appointed Principal of the Hugh Wooding Law School.

Hugh Wooding Law School

She has undergone training in Alternative Dispute Resolution, International Project Financing and Contracting, Procurement Law and Practice, Maritime Boundary Delimitation, Money-Laundering Typologies, Human Resources Management, Negotiation, International Project Financing, Evaluation for Registration and Accreditation and other training related to her areas of interest.

Ms. Miriam Samaru She is a member of the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago, Principal the Council of Legal Education, the Board of the Faculty of Law, the Caribbean Association of Procurement Professionals and is a Fellow Member of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies, University of London. She was a charter member of the Central Pilot Club of Nassau, Bahamas.

Ms. Samaru is committed to the development of legal education in the Commonwealth Caribbean.

Mrs. Tonya Bastian Galanis joined the Eugene Dupuch Law School as a tutor upon its establishment in 1998. In August 2008, she was appointed Principal of the Law School. Mrs. Galanis holds a Bachelor of Laws degree (Hons.) from the University of the West Indies and was awarded the Legal Education Certificate from the Norman Manley Law School, Jamaica. She also holds a Diploma in Legislative Drafting from the University of Ottawa and a Master of Laws in Corporate & Commercial Law from the University of the West Indies. Mrs. Galanis was admitted to The Bahamas Bar in 1985. At the Law School, she lectures in Ethics, Rights and Mrs. Tonya Bastian Galanis Obligations of the Legal Profession.

Eugene Dupuch Law School

Principal

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C O U N C I L O F L E G A L E D U C AT I O N ( C L E )

Congratulatory Messages Justice Winston Anderson

I

wish to pay tribute to the Council of Legal Education (CLE) in achieving the milestone of 50 years of service to the people of the Caribbean.

Although not a formal graduate of the CLE, my relationship with the Council has nevertheless been a deep and rewarding one. Following upon my attainment of the LL.B degree from UWI (Cave Hill) in 1983, I embarked upon the 2-year CLE program at the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica but that encounter was cut short within weeks when I was offered and accepted a scholarship to pursue the LL.M at Cave Hill. The following year I matriculated into the PhD programme at Cambridge University and took advantage of my presence in the UK to obtain membership in the Hon Society of Lincoln’s Inn and to enroll in the Inns of Court School of Law. I was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1988; and, as this was ‘in the day’ before the 6-months conversion course, I was admitted to the Bar of Barbados in 1989 (and then of Jamaica in 2006), without having to return to the CLE programme.

It has always been a matter of nostalgic regret for me that I did not complete what I started at Norman Manley in 1983. Certainly, if the ‘six months’ conversion course was required then I would have gladly undertaken it. However, in other ways, I have been privileged to work closely with the CLE and some of its outstanding Chairmen, including Hon. Mr. Justice C. Dennis Morrison; Reginald T. A. Armour, SC; J. Emile Ferdinand, QC; and E. Ann Henry, QC - distinguished public officials all. Working closely with the CLE was the case, when as a

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Law Lecturer, Head of Teaching, and Deputy Dean at Cave Hill Law Faculty, I had occasion to interface with the Council in respect of the relationship between the academic programme at the Faculty of Law, and the professional programme, at the Law Schools. As General Counsel for the Caribbean Community, it was a pleasure to support the initiatives for reform of various legal instruments proposed by the Council. As Judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice (‘CCJ’) and Chairman of the CCJ Academy for Law, I was privileged to sign a Memorandum of Understanding in December 2018 with the CLE for the fostering of mutual collaborative endeavours.

I remain grateful for the commitment of the Council to legal education in the Caribbean.

I know that the Council has faced very trying times, not least with the decentralization in the Law Faculty and the burgeoning numbers of individuals educated within and outside the region wishing to pursue a career in Law. It is a tribute to the Council that it has managed to hold the line for 50 years in ensuring legal competences in its graduates while allowing so many young Caribbean nationals to achieve their dream of becoming attorneysat law. Congratulations! My fervent wish is that the Council holds the line and maintains that balance for the next 50 years, and for far beyond.

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Justice Dennis Morrison CLASS OF 1975

I

am happy to contribute a few words to mark the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the formation of the Council of Legal Education in 1971.

When I entered the Norman Manley Law School in September of 1973, the Council’s journey between dream and reality was still not quite complete. Indeed, in those early days, the distinctly temporary appearance of the two buildings which housed the Norman Manley Law School and the Hugh Wooding Law School respectively were constant reminders of the fragility of the new enterprise. But slowly, taking ever surer steps along the way, the Council grew in strength and maturity, sending out its first graduates from the two schools in 1975, and establishing a third school in The Bahamas in 1998.

teaching, as well as examining, students in the Law School Programme. Despite the profound hope of everyone that we will before too long be out of the Covid-19 crisis, the new normal may well have significant implications for the ways in which the Council delivers the teaching programme as we go forward.

But, if our history is anything to go by, there is nothing to fear in change. I am therefore confident that the Council will, as it has been over the last 50 years, be equal to whatever new challenges the future may bring.

Now, 50 years after the Council’s formation in 1971, considering the myriad ways in which its graduates have affected and transformed the legal profession throughout the region in just two generations, one cannot help but marvel again at the vision and tenacity of the founders and all those who were involved from the outset. I hope that as part of these celebrations some space will be made to recognise and laud the dedication and selflessness of those men and women who carried the burden of this achievement, often in extraordinarily difficult circumstances.

Looking ahead, the events of the last year and a half have brought about a further transformation in the manner of

Justice Dennis Morrison receiving his Instrument of Appointment as President of the Court of Appeal of Jamaica from the Governor General.

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Congratulatory Messages Jacquelyn Samuels-Brown, QC

T

he Council of Legal Education was established to develop a scheme for legal professional training suited to the needs of the region.

There can be no doubt that it has fulfilled that mandate. Prior to this training had to be sourced in the United Kingdom. The cost and apprehensions often associated with studying so far from home was often a disincentive and an obstacle for many who aspired to be lawyers. In this context it is perhaps not surprising that with the establishment of the Council of Legal Education there has been a significant increase in the number of females qualifying and practicing as lawyers in our several jurisdictions.

The Law Schools operating under the auspices of the Council of Legal Education have produced a large cohort of outstanding attorneys-at-law, who have served as practitioners at the public bar and in private practice as well as in the highest judicial offices, as legislators and in other public offices. Through these leaders a jurisprudence founded on internationally acknowledged principles, but adapted to the unique needs of the region has grown exponentially.

The Council of Legal Education constituted as it is of legislators, members of the private and public bar and academics from across the region as well as representatives from the Law Schools, is itself a standard bearer for democratic and inclusive governance.

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Our achievements warrant celebrating. That is not to say that there have not been challenges along the way. However these have been confronted head on and solutions arrived at by consultation and collaboration.

The founders of the Council of Legal Education; those visionaries who conceptualized it, the intellectuals who created the policy framework for it and the professionals who set it in motion must be acknowledged as we celebrate this our 50th anniversary. Some are still with us, while others have transitioned but the legacy they have created will forever live on. We are indeed privileged to walk in their footprints.

I have been privileged to be able to view and assess these phenomena through the lens of a student who had the benefit of obtaining my professional training at the Norman Manley Law School but also as a current member of the Council of Legal Education having served as its chair from 2010 to 2016. These opportunities have allowed me to interact with students and professionals from across the wider Caribbean and Guyana, to develop an appreciation for the value of regional unity and to fully appreciate that together we are stronger.

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E. Ann Henry, QC GRADUATE

Hugh Wooding Law School May, 1981

I

extend Congratulations to the Council of Legal Education on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of its existence.

It was my privilege to serve as Chairman of the Council of Legal Education from September, 2007 to September, 2010. Prior to that, I had been a member of the Council from the late 1990s and, over time, had observed the increasing challenge which the Council was experiencing as it sought to meet an ever-increasing demand for training in law, while recognizing that Governments around the region were experiencing great difficulty in providing the Council with the necessary funding, accommodation and related resources required for the operation of the Schools.

greatest fears as we contemplated the new system, that of compromising on standards, did not materialize and that our decision was the correct one in the circumstances.

I am grateful that, in serving on the Council, I had the opportunity to give back in a meaningful way to the institution which played a key role in preparing me to practice the profession which I chose for myself and which has given me much professional satisfaction over these past many years.

The challenge of physical accommodation reached a critical level when I took over as Chairman. This was so particularly at the Norman Manley Law School. We took the decision to meet the challenge by introducing the “Evening Stream”, which were classes held in the evening hours, as a mechanism for significantly increasing the intake of students, while seeking to maintain individual class sizes and ensure continued high teaching and training standards.

As I recall those days and the intense deliberations we had relating to this issue, I am happy that we were not paralyzed by the fear of the unknown, but that we pressed forward to meet and seek to overcome that challenge. I am quite satisfied that one of the

Ms. E. Ann Henry QC being sworn in as a Commissioner, Regional Judicial & Legal Services Commission by CCJ President Justice Adrian Saunders.

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Welcome to Mona Law

by Dr. Shazeela Ali

The Faculty of Law library The Faculty of Law was established at The Cave Hill Campus of the University of West Indies in 1970. Its primary objective is to provide an academic qualification which is a compulsory prerequisite to professional legal training for lawyers in the Commonwealth Caribbean.

However, the traditional basic legal skills of concise and pertinent oral argument, systematic and relevant presentation of essential issues, clarity and precision of written options and detached and balanced judgment are also useful as reliable skills for other professions such as the Civil and Police Service, Accountancy, Banking and Commerce.

The Faculty of Law offers an undergraduate programme as well as graduate programmes.

The LLB programme is run over a 3 year period for full-time students and 5-6 years for parttime students. Since September 2009, Years 1, 2 and 3 of the programme have been offered at the Mona Campus.

A student is generally required to complete each Year successfully before being allowed to enroll for the Year following. However, very limited trailing is permitted into Years 2 and 3 of the programme.

The degree offered by the Faculty of Law is the LLB which may be awarded in the following categories: First Class Honours – (GPA 3.60 and above) Upper Second Class Honours – (GPA 3.00 - 3.59) Lower Second Class Honours – (GPA 2.50 - 2.99)

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Pass – (GPA 2.00 - 2.49) The Mona Campus in Jamaica, is one of the three campuses of the University of the West Indies. This is the premier legal educational institution in the Commonwealth Caribbean.

This is a significant time in our history, as we celebrate Mona Law as a fully-fledged Faculty, teaching Law for over 50 years. We are committed to excellence in legal education and as such, we have expanded our faculty and facilities to ensure that you have an exciting and rewarding intellectual experience. The study and discipline of Law prepares you for a wide range of careers, including private practice, the judiciary, diplomatic corps, international organizations and businesses. New areas of opportunities are constantly emerging as technology advances and changes. You are therefore urged to take advantage of all that our faculty has to offer, knowing that you will be richly rewarded, and in turn, you can reward others.

About the Author: DR SHAZEELA ALI LL.B (Hons) UWI, LL.M (Cantab), PhD (London).

She is a Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Mona Campus, University of the West Indies in Public International Law, Law on Restitution, Finance and Crime. She is the Author of several Law books on Finance and Crime.

NMLS Wins CCJ Moot Contest

40th Anniversary Bar Reunion

1979 Class of NMLS

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Front Row (l-r): Ms. Donna Stephenson Mrs. Margaret Moodie Jarvis Mrs. Justice Maureen Crane Scott Mrs. Justice Carol Beswick Ms. Shirley Ann Eaton and Mrs. Pamela Henry

Second Row (l-r): Mr. Justice Patrick Brooks Mr. Randolph Dandy Mr. Ernel Johnson Mr. Hugh Thompson Mr. Peter Martin Mr. David Wong Ken and Mr. H. Campbell Cleare (Bahamas)

Back Row (l-r): Mr. Bert Samuels, Mr. Dennis Darby, Mr. Maxim Clarke, Mr. Richard Rowe Captain Paul Beswick (now deceased) Mr. Deryck Russell Mr. Michael Erskine Ambasador A. B. Stewart Stephenson Ms. Loreen Walker and Mr. Justice Andrew Rattray

NMLS winning team and their advisor, Ms. Tara Carnegie

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C O U N C I L O F L E G A L E D U C AT I O N ( C L E )

That Caribbean Crossroad Spirit of 1971

by Dr. Francis Alexis

THE COUNCIL ESTABLISHED The promulgation of the Agreement Establishing the Council of Legal Education among Caribbean Governments, University of the West Indies and University of Guyana, (‘the Agreement’), on 17 March 19711, whose Article 1 established that Council, (‘the Council’), had context and mission.

MISSION: CHAMPION ORDERLY SOCIETAL CHANGE By that Agreement, the mission of the Council is to establish a scheme for ‘legal education and training that is suited to the needs of the Caribbean with two main objectives’. Perhaps the overarching objective is the second one stated, namely, to pay due regard to ‘the impact of law as an instrument of orderly social economic change’. The one stated first is to ‘provide teaching in legal skills and techniques.2 INSTRUMENTALITIES: THROUGH LAW SCHOOLS To pull off that mission, the Council (financed from contributions by the Governments, grants, donations and fees) has to establish, equip and maintain Law Schools to provide postgraduate professional legal training.3 SUPPLY CHAIN The supply chain of the Council was to be, by the Agreement, initially, the Faculty of Law,

University of the West Indies (‘UWI’), which had been established in 1970, at Cave Hill, Barbados, to graduate persons with academic degrees in law. It added that a University equivalent to UWI, doing likewise, would also suffice. Such academic graduates in law were to be moulded by the Council into persons qualified to practise law professionally; to render legal services to Caribbean peoples, not least at the Bar and on the Bench.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND The coming into force of the Council testified that Caribbean peoples were growing out of the self doubt deliberately drummed into them by centuries of dehumanisation of victims of slavery, colonialism and imperialism. Caribbean peoples thereby proclaimed their readiness to study institutionally, and reform, the law and the Constitution of each Caribbean country to make them better serve their needs aspirations and vision.

CONTEMPORARY FORCES Yet, 1971 had its own contemporary forces giving urgency for establishing the Council. Calls for meaningful positive social and economic change to empower black people, called Black Power, were being articulated across the Caribbean; as in the USA, Canada and the UK.4 Black Power theorists were being harassed; in 1968 Dr Walter Rodney of Guyana, a history lecturer at UWI,

1 The Agreement Establishing the Council of Legal Education came into force on 17 March 1971 when it received signatures or ratifications by the requisite number of original signatories thereto.

2 Ibid First and Second Recitals.

3 Ibid Article 1.3(b).

4 Walter Rodney, The Groundings with my Brothers (Bogle L’ Ouverture, London 1979).

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Mona, Jamaica was banned from Jamaica; which propelled into the spotlight Ralph Gonsalves then the student leader at Mona.5 April 1970 saw an army mutiny at Tetron in Trinidad & Tobago, its leaders yearning for positive change in the running of the army.6 There was what was dubbed ‘The “February Revolution” in Trinidad and Tobago, 1970’.7 On Guyana in 1970 moving to control the commanding heights of its economy in its bauxite resources, push back came from the foreign operators exploiting those resources.

This forced Guyana to decide on 23 February 1971 to nationalize bauxite with compensation.8 Caribbeaners wondered what was the role of the law if their countries resolved to repossess their mineral resources. How could one not then recall that when the UK Parliament passed the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 to emancipate African slaves in the Caribbean, that Act lavished £20M compensation on the former slave owners, but gave none to the former African slaves.

The Caribbean in 1971 was rocking, like unto a ship whose captain is to be told: the ship is sinking. All this was less than a decade since independence first reached the Caribbean, starting in August 1962 in Jamaica, followed later that same month by Trinidad & Tobago.

Yet, it was a time when the Caribbean had leaders who possessed considerable stature and

5 6 7 8 9

enormous charisma, in and out of government.

These included Eric Williams, Forbes Burnham, Errol Barrow, Michael Manley, Eric Gairy, Vere Cornwall Bird and John Compton. Some had with them Attorneys-General of the calibre of Shridath Ramphall. They knew that moods for change could spiral, even out of control.

Caribbean test cricketers showed that the Caribbean has world class talent. Booming then, too, was Caribbean culture, in prose, poetry, the performing arts and song; not a little of this, though, was affected by voices calling for change.

THE SPIRIT OF 1971 The spirit of 1971 in the Caribbean was a certain poignant mixture. There was a keen awareness of the potential of the peoples to excel in various fields of endeavour. Yet, there was profound concern about where was the Caribbean headed developmentally. The Caribbean was at the crossroads regarding transformational change. Take the wrong road in 1971, and Tetron haunted, or there beckoned Grenada 1979-1983.9 The Council was envisaged as being able to help steadying the Caribbean in that period of hesitation. It was, since the start of the coming of independence, the first pan-Caribbean institution crafted by peoples of the Caribbean, from the Caribbean, for the Caribbean.

Ralph Gonsalves, The Politics of our Caribbean Civilisation (Great Works, St Vincent 2001) Ch 6 ‘The Rodney Affair and its Aftermath’; Events for October 16, 1968 in Kingston, Readings in Government and Politics of the West Indies (T Munroe & R Lewis eds, UWI, Mona, Jamaica 1971) 208-209.

Raffique Shah, ‘The Military Crisis in Trinidad & Tobago during 1970’, in Readings, note 5 above, 215-221.

Lloyd Best, in Readings, note 5 above, 210-214.

Dr Norman Girvan, ‘The Guyana-Alcan Conflict and the Nationalization of Demba’, in Readings, note 5 above, 225232.

On 13 March 1979, Maurice Bishop, a lawyer, led in revolutionarily overthrowing the Government of Grenada of Eric Gairy; with Bishop becoming the revolutionary Prime Minister. On 19 October 1983 Bishop was revolutionarily overthrown and killed by some of his revolutionary comrades, for which they were later convicted of murder. See Alexis, Sir Dennis Byron: Law Legend (Hansib 2020) Chs 6-9.

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Pressing Necessity That conjuncture threw up an unmistakable pressing necessity. The region needed persons to be trained in Caribbean law textually and substantively; not as a mere footnote to other peoples laws, as is done where law is taught outside the Caribbean. If ever there was a demand for law to function as social engineering in the Caribbean, this was it. This made indispensable the training of persons in the Caribbean to become lawyers for the Caribbean. Architects of the Council were most anxious that law be presented as an instrument of orderly societal change.

Some Yes, More No Affording a person training in the law might not prevent them from saying yes to espousing change with bullets rather than ballots; history has had lawyers overthrowing the system revolutionarily.10 But most lawyers abjure that way, recognising that such a process has at times been self emaciating; so, they reject running a country by the gun, and instead champion the rule of law in a working democracy with laws having inner morality and protecting human rights to promote the dignity of the human person, under ordered positive change. This was the perception inscribed into the Agreement.

ACCOMMODATING FACTORS Those calls for change were an accommodating factor for the emergence of the Council.

Another such factor was that the idea of training Caribbeaners in law at home had worthy advocates among the Caribbean diaspora. Eminent among these was Prof Sir Roy Marshall, a Barbadian who was then a professor of law in the UK. Decisive was the commencement of teaching at the Faculty of Law at UWI, Cave Hill,

10 Note 9 above.

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Barbados, in 1970. A most solid base was laid by its founders, the founding Dean, Prof KW Patchett of England, and Prof AR Carnegie of Jamaica. They had quality full time colleagues, as Anthony Bland; also, rather impressive part time helpers as Henry Forde (later Sir Henry, Attorney-General of Barbados) and David Simmonds (later Sir David, Chief Justice of Barbados). With the first academic degrees to be conferred by Cave Hill in 1973, arrangements for the professional training of their holders had to be in place by 1971 for implementation by 1973.

The Caribbean could not afford to have numerous persons holding a degree in law but not able to practice law because of the absence of professional legal training. Parnell Campbell of St Vincent, while in the first cohort of law students at Cave Hill, on his way to the First Class in law he earned, in one of his calypsos, recorded then, observing that Barrow had called Gairy a bandit, presaged revolution in Grenada.

FROM TETRON TO CHAGUARAMAS The urgency of the need to devise and implement initiatives to head off forces of unconventional societal change was undeniable. Before the first batch of UWI law students could graduate by September 1973, Caribbean Prime Ministers, on 4 July 1973, assembled in Trinidad & Tobago not far from Tetron where soldiers had mutinied in 1970, and signed the Treaty of Chaguaramas, to promote Caribbean regionalism in trade and commerce, so as to foster Caribbean economic growth and social development. Chaguaramas was to lead to starting CSME in 2001 and the signing in 2001 of the Agreement Establishing the Caribbean Court of Justice, (‘CCJ’), which would be inaugurated in 2005. Advocacy for a regional final appellate court was boosted when

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OCCBA and Jamaica officially called therefor in 1970. So, in 1971 Caribbean peoples were talking about loud for systemic change.

THE COUNCIL READIED TWO LAW SCHOOLS That it was emergent for systems to be in place in time to impart professional legal training to those first graduating from Cave Hill by September 1973 needed no emphasising for the Council. For that purpose, by Michaelmas 1973 the Council opened the doors of its newly established Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica, (‘Norman Manly’),11 and Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad & Tobago, (‘Hugh Wooding’).12 The Hon Mr Justice H Aubrey Fraser, was principal, based at Norman Manley. He was then fresh from sitting on the panel of the Trinidadian Court of Appeal which quashed the convictions in the Tetron mutiny court-martial because of gross contraventions by the court-martial of guarantees in the Trinidadian Bill of Rights to a fair hearing in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice and due process.13 That was merely an application of the principle which Fraser JA in the Wooding Court of Appeal had enunciated in the case laying down foundational Caribbean constitutional principles in 1967.

Back then, Fraser JA had declared: ‘No one, not even Parliament, can disobey the Constitution with impunity’14.

Fraser had the human panache of a renaissance man, as urbane as could be. He loved people.

He had a flair for interacting with others, he was collegiate by nature. He had great ideas, flourishing vision, a knack for implementation.

His legacy was to include, with Norman Manley, the West Indian Law Journal. It is so fitting that a lecture theatre at the Norman Manley Law School has been named after H Aubrey Fraser, Eminent Caribbean Jurist.15 Dr Fenton Ramsahoye, former AttorneyGeneral of Guyana, was deputy principal, based at Hugh Wooding. He was a tour de force in law; as an intellectual he could hold his own anywhere in the world; whatever the subject, including land law in which he earned a PHD from London University, constitutional law, administrative law and human rights.

There were excellent tutors. Some were fulltime, as Rolston Nelson, future CCJ Judge; Dr Claude Denbow; and Dennis Cenac. Some were part-time, as Michael de la Bastide, future founding CCJ President.

Later would come the Eugene Dupuch Law School in The Bahamas.

PIONEERS OF STURDY STUFF The first intake of students to the Council included men and women of brilliance. They knew they were being closely watched by the world, being pioneers of regional legal

11 Named after noted Jamaican lawyer and statesman Norman Manley.

12 Named after iconic Trinidadian Chief Justice Hugh Wooding, whose Wooding Court of Appeal pronounced foundational constitutional principles. One was the supremacy of the Constitution over even Parliament and in the absence from the Constitution of a clause declaring that the Constitution is the supreme law: Collymore v A-G (1967) 12 WIR 5 (CA-T&T). Another was that the Governor-General is amenable to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court: Hochoy v NUGE (1967) 7 WIR 174 (CA-T&T).

13 Laselle v R (1972) 20 WIR 361 (CA-T&T). Other members of the Court were Phillips CJ(Ag) and Georges JA. 14 Collymore v A-G (1967) 12 WIR 5, 35D; similar pronouncements were there made by Wooding CJ and Phillips JA. See note 12 above. 15 Alexis, H Aubrey Fraser: Eminent Caribbean Jurist (Antilles, Barbados 1985).

15 Alexis, H Aubrey Fraser: Eminent Caribbean Jurist (Antilles, Barbados 1985).

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education. Pioneers are people of sturdy stuff, apt to survive, even thrive, what’er betide. They were battle-hardened pioneers, first law students at Cave Hill, first students at the Council.

that those two schools could not but be still exemplary today in 2021, fifty years on from 1971; the Eugene Dupuch Law School in The Bahamas chiming in later.

The Council boasted among its first graduating class, that of 1975, men and women who would make a mark for the better. Thus, W Tapley Seaton, the future Sir Tapley, would be Governor- General of St Kitts-Nevis. Sandra Mason, the future Dame Sandra, would be Governor-General of Barbados. Dean Barrow would go on to be Prime Minster of Belize.

Samuel Sosa, the future Sir Samuel, would be President of the Court of Appeal of Belize. C. Dennis Morrison would become President of the Court of Appeal of Jamaica. Elneth Kentish would be a High Court Judge of Barbados.

Justin Simon would be the Attorney-General of Antigua & Barbuda. From its ranks were to come leaders of the Bar, at the Inner Bar, QCs, as Clement Lashley of Barbados. Hilford Deterville would be President of the Senate in St Lucia.

All are duly confident that those three Law Schools will continue imparting legal training well able to equip Caribbean jurists to deal with the enormous challenges ahead. This is so whether those be multi-faceted COVID-19 types of crises, climate change, getting more countries to have as their final appellate court the CCJ, and other constitution reform, in which help would come from Barbados going republic.

Mayo Robertson of Guyana would have the fortitude, intestinal and intellectual, to tell the President of Guyana and CARICOM that CARICOM could not send any team to Guyana to conduct a recount of the votes in the 2020 general election when the Constitution reserves that role exclusively for the Guyana Elections Commission.16 EQUIPPING FOR CHALLENGES Very glowing tributes are due the founding builders of the Council and its Law Schools, also all those in its start-up years 1973-1975, tutors and students, who coloured Norman Manley and Hugh Wooding with dignity and excellence. They set the bar at such a high level

May our Creator God continue richly blessing the Council its Law Schools and its graduates going forward as standard bearers, equally for subjecting laws to rigorous scrutiny as for being instruments of meaningful positive orderly societal change.

About the Author: DR. FRANCIS ALEXIS QC; PHD (Cantab), LLM, LLB, BA (UWI); LEC (HWLS); Attorney-at-Law Grenada; former A-G of Grenada; Director of Public Law Postgraduate Programmes, put on, online, by the Faculty of Law, UWI, Cave Hill, Barbados.

16 Moore v Guyana Elections Commission, Civil Appeal No 38 of 2020, 5 April 2020 (CA-Guy).

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The Difference Between English and West Indian Trained Lawyers by Oscar Ramjeet There is a difference between English and West Indian trained Lawyers. The regulations and traditions of the Inns of Court of Britain are somewhat different from the training of West Indian trained Lawyers in several aspects.

In the Caribbean there are no dinners and other English traditional lectures because the

training is more geared for the day to day activities in the region. Moreso there is no wig because of the climate, but the gown (robe) is retained.

Persons who have been called to the Bar in England were Barristers governed by the Ethics of the London Inns of Court. These do

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Graduation Ceremony at CLE’s Norman Manley Law School, Mona Campus, Kingston, Jamaica. not apply to persons who are not Barristers and who obtained the Caribbean CLE Certificate.

As a result, a young Trinidad and Tobago Lawyer in 1980 advertised for clients in a daily newspaper. He was confronted that it was unethical and wrong to do so, but the abrasive recently graduated attorney retorted that he was Caribbean trained and was not bound by the English Inns of Court tradition.

Thereafter in each Caribbean jurisdiction, rules have been established and in some cases the ethics of the English Inns of Court have been adopted with some modifications.

Accordingly, this guides the extent to which a CLE graduate can advertise or practice. In fact, the Caribbean trained Lawyers are better prepared than their English counterparts.

More than 10,286 persons have qualified as attorneys in the three Law Schools of the UWI and there is a call for more Law Schools to cope with the shortage of space to accommodate more law students.

Former Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Dr Kenny D Anthony, a lawyer who studied the

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profession both in the Caribbean and England, feels that the profession will not continue to survive as we know it. Technology he says has brought far reaching changes to the training and practice of the law.

The Coronavirus has forced the Courts to introduce virtual hearings. Eventually, the CCJ, the apex court accommodated this form of presentation and Lawyers do not have to travel to Port of Spain, Trinidad. This might prompt all of the jurisdictions to introduce virtual trials at all of the courts, even the Magistrates courts which deal with most of the cases.

PROVISION FOR MATURED STUDENTS IN THE CARIBBEAN Unlike Britain, there is a provision in the Caribbean whereby matured students who do not possess the academic qualifications can be enrolled for the programme if they have the experience and qualification equivalent to the requirement. In fact, there are scores if not hundreds of experienced matured persons who took advantage of this rule and are now Lawyers with most of them becoming outstanding attorneys.

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Reminiscences of A Hugh Wooding Alumni

by Justice Adrian Saunders President of the CCJ

Hats off to Oscar Ramjeet for conceiving of this project to collect and publish these reflections on the Council of Legal Education (CLE) and the CLE’s pioneering work in preparing home schooled Attorneys at law for the English speaking Caribbean.

In these brief remarks I wish to reminisce on the two years I spent at the Hugh Wooding Law School (HWLS) in St Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago between 1975 and 1977. Mine was the third cohort of students to be trained at HWLS. There was not yet constructed the wonderful edifice that today honours the name of Trinidad & Tobago’s first post Independence Chief Justice and one of the architects of the CLE. The first few cohorts made do with a large house on Wilson and Warner Streets at the rear of which was constructed two small buildings which were used for lectures.

The house itself was used for

the library, tutorial rooms and administration offices.

The Law School was then twinned with its counterpart in Jamaica. Former Trinidad and Tobago Justice of Appeal Aubrey Fraser was the Director of both schools. As he spent much of his time at the Jamaica school former Guyanese jurist, Justice Guya Persaud, the Deputy Director, was based in Trinidad.

.... the lecturers and tutors were excellent Caribbean lawyers and teachers .... everyone was acutely conscious that we were all embarked upon a historic process.

In these early years the physical conditions at the HWLS were not exactly ideal. And that would be putting it charitably. But we students thirsted for knowledge, the lecturers and tutors were excellent Caribbean lawyers and teachers and everyone was acutely conscious that we were all embarked upon a historic process. And so, in spite of the numerous challenges, we strove to make the best of the circumstances. The lecturers, while I studied there, included Neville Cenac; Bertram Commissiong; Rolston Nelson; Cynthia Riley Haynes; Russel Martineau, Claude Denbow and others. A number of lawyers, judges and magistrates active in the courts of Trinidad & Tobago also offered their services as tutors. These included Michael de la Bastide, Gladys Gafoor and Monica Barnes.

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A Students Representative Council (SRC) was elected to build morale among the students, seek greater student participation in administrative decision making and to represent the student body in discussions with the administration on various issues. The elected head of the SRC was Arnold ‘Atiba’ Bostic. The other members were Lynette Seebarran, Francis Alexis, Dave De Peiza, and Adrian Saunders.

The SRC was extremely active in a variety of ways. It sponsored a seminar on Women and the Law at which Stephanie Daly was the featured speaker and also, on Friday 19 November 1976, a panel discussion on fusion of the legal An extract from the editorial of the first issue of OBITER profession. Its most enduring legacy was the publication of a student journal called OBITER. The following extract from the editorial of the first issue speaks volumes: That issue of OBITER featured academic articles on such aspects of the law as the new Legal Aid Act in Trinidad and Tobago by Lynette Seebarran and Law and Industrial Relations in the Commonwealth Caribbean by Leroy Jackman.

The CLE was established with lofty goals in mind.... this is probably a good time to assess whether these goals are still relevant....

The CLE was established with lofty goals in mind. These goals were published in various documents. It was never intended that the schools should merely be content to prepare students to practise the profession of the law

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proficiently and competently. The idea was that, in addition, they should strive to stimulate concern for public service, public policy and law reform. After several decades this is probably a good time to assess whether these goals are still relevant and, if so, whether the prevailing curricula and culture at the schools are conducive to their attainment or whether new goals should be elaborated and published.

In any event, the CLE is to be warmly congratulated at this time. This is indeed a time for celebration!

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Congratulatory Messages S. Maureen Crane-Scott, Q.C. JUSTICE OF APPEAL Court of Appeal of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas

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s a proud alumnus of the 1979 graduating class of the Sir Hugh Wooding Law School, it is my privilege to have been invited to offer some remarks to commemorate the achievements of the Council of Legal Education as it reaches its golden age. It is simply unbelievable that almost 42 years have passed since Graduation Day on Tuesday, October 16, 1979 when I and 45 other members of our graduating class, joyously received our hard-earned Certificates of Legal Education from Chairman of the Council of Legal Education, Dr. Lloyd Barnett. Time really does fly by; and it seems like it was only yesterday when, with precious Certificates in hand, we stood at the threshold of our respective careers, each of us determined to make our mark in the practice of the law in the region.

In my case, as a student from Guyana, I entered the UWI LL.B degree program in 1974 and started the first year of my undergraduate studies at the University of Guyana. During that first year, a batch of Guyanese students from all walks of life crossed paths for the first time and, in some cases, formed lifelong associations. The Guyanese contingent included 4 women: myself, Clarissa Riehl, Lynnette Ramsahoye-Turville and Anjalee Sankat. If memory serves me correctly, the male students from Guyana were: Robert Ramcharran, S.C., Oscar Ramjeet, Kurt

DeFreitas, Mahendra Ramgopal, Gerald Brooms, Patrick Killikelly, Hemansu ‘Butch’ Bhairam, Cheddie Goberdhan and Perry Gossai. None of us can forget Trevor Bailey, a flamboyant Jamaican student, who, much to our surprise, joined us from the parish of Portland, Jamaica for the first year.

After successfully completing the initial year of the LL.B program, we continued the second and third years of our legal studies at the Faculty of Law, at the Cave Hill Campus in Barbados. It was at Cave Hill that we met and interacted with countless other students from other parts of the Caribbean, forming yet again, a wider network of friends and acquaintances. At Cave Hill, we were privileged to have studied a variety of law subjects at the feet of such legal stalwarts as Professor Ralph Carnegie, Dr. Roop Chaudhary; Mr. Anthony “Tony” Bland, Prof. Menon, Dr. Nicholas Liverpool, Ms. Norma Forde, Mr. Andrew Burgess (as he then was) and Professor Albert Fiadjoe, among others.

Later on at the Hugh Wooding Law School, and in keeping with the vision and mandate of the Treaty, we received instruction in the practical and procedural aspects of such subjects as Conveyancing & Real Property, the Law of Evidence, and Civil and Criminal

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Practice and Procedure and Legal Drafting from a variety of experienced lecturers. The names: Mr. Denis Cenac, Mr. Rolston Nelson (later Mr. Justice Nelson of the CCJ) and Miss. Monica Barnes immediately come to mind. I still remember the numerous practical assignments relentlessly meted out to us, in particular, by Mr. Cenac. This unrelenting stream of practical assignments was, it would seem, par for the course. With tight submission deadlines, the assignments were, doubtless, designed to prepare the Council’s students for the realities of legal practice by developing our ability to multi-task, and to undertake complex legal research and to produce draft pleadings and other documents on time and under pressure. I dare say these crucial skills have remained with us throughout our respective careers.

In October 2019, I was privileged to have been invited by the Norman Manley Law School’s graduating class of 1979 to attend a private dinner which had been organized in Kingston to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their graduation from Law School. I readily accepted their gracious invitation. What a

pleasure it was to see and to catch-up with old friends and acquaintances many of whom I had not seen since 1977 when we left Cave Hill for our respective Law Schools. The ease with which we were able to reconnect with each other after so many years is testament to the crucial role which the Council and the University of the West Indies each play in promoting the social integration of the Caribbean and its peoples.

Against the background of these fond memories and observations, I wish to congratulate the Council of Legal Education and the management and staff of its three Law Schools for the role they have thus far played in the human resource development and social integration of the Caribbean Community. As the Council begins the next decade of its legal existence, I am confident that in partnership with the University of the West Indies and the University of Guyana, it will continue to deliver on its Treaty mandate of delivering a quality legal education to its students which is relevant to the needs and developmental goals of our beloved region.

Swearing-in of Justice Maureen Crane-Scott to the Court of Appeal, Bahamas.

From left: Justice Neville Adderley; Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Allyson MaynardGibson; Madame Stella Maureen Crane-Scott; Dame Marguerite Pindling; President of the Court of Appeal, Honorific Dame Anita Allen; and Justice Jon Isaacs.

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Dr. The Hon. Lloyd G. Barnett O.J., Ph.D (Lond.), LL.D. (Hon.)(U.tech), LL.D. (Hon.) (UWI)

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he attainment of its 50th Anniversary by any organisation is an achievement worth celebrating.

In the case of the Council of Legal Education it is particularly praiseworthy in that it has endeavoured and in large measure been successful in achieving its mission and objectives.

The Founding Fathers of the Caribbean system of legal education held the conviction that there should be established in the Caribbean our own system of legal education and training that suited the needs of this region.

In the Report of the Committee on Legal Education of the Council of the University of the West Indies (1965), it had been recommended that the training of the Caribbean lawyer should include courses in Caribbean History. The Agreement establishing the Council reiterated these ideals and recommended a scheme which was designed to achieve these objectives by the provision of teaching in legal skills and techniques as well as the paying of due regard to the impact of law as an instrument of orderly social and economic change.

I recall initial meetings of the Council in the early 1970s. The enthralling sense of the historical significance of the new venture encompassed us, as we looked forward with a sense of purpose and optimism.

The achievement of the declared ideals is evidenced by the outstanding contribution which its graduates have made to development and progress in the English-speaking Caribbean.

Graduates have held the highest positions in the region as Governor-General, members of the higher judiciary, Ministers of Government, Attorneys-General and leaders of the Bar. The Council has had, particularly during the second 25 years of its existence, to withstand consistent pressures brought on by the demands of governments and the public to admit greater numbers of persons to the institutions of legal learning and training and for the expansion of Law Faculties and creation of new Law Schools. There have also been deviations from the original scheme by the making of new provisions for the admission to national Bars of persons who do not hold a certificate of legal education issued by the Council. The challenge which faces the Council now is to revise the Agreement by which it was established so that it meets the increasingly strident demands for change, liberalisation and expansion while maintaining the ideals and objectives of the Founding Fathers.

The Council must also re-examine the courses offered so as to ensure that they meet the demands of the new age of technology and specialisation.

These problems and challenges were identified and analysed in the Report of the Review Committee on Legal Education in the Caribbean 1996 which dealt with the objectives, problems and challenges as well as achievements and

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successes. In the Executive Summary that Report stated: “Among legal educational institutions in the common law world the Caribbean Law Schools have been among the most innovative in expanding the range of activities in which the students are engaged.”

That Committee also stated: “We have conducted a general review of the system, its rationale, philosophy, methodology and objectives. We have examined its academic, professional, administrative and financial components.

We have striven to maintain a sensitivity to the social and economic needs of the region and an awareness of the needs, demands and aspirations of the peoples of the Region.”

The Council embraced the sentiments and recommendations of the Review Committee and has striven to overcome the odds presented.

I therefore congratulate the Council and wish for it, its members, staff and students the effective resolution of all the challenges it faces and continued success as it continues to serve our Region.

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Photo credit: Winston Sill

The Jamaican Bar Association (JBA) Annual Awards Banquet, at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston on Friday night July 12, 2013.

Ian Wilkinson (left), President, JBA; Hugh Hart (centre), Honoree; and Dr. Lloyd Barnett (right).

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After 50 Golden Years: What Next?

by Mohabir Anil Nandlall

I join the chorus to echo my warmest felicitations to the Council of Legal Education (CLE) on the celebration of its Golden Jubilee. This is, indeed, a significant accomplishment and through its manifest successes, the CLE has long put to rest the cynics who had doubted its viability when it was birthed.

Fifty years hence, is inconceivable to envisage the legal profession in the Caribbean without the contribution of the CLE. Products of the CLE have held the positions of Heads of Government; they dominate the Caribbean Court of Justice and indeed every court in every Judiciary in the Region. They predominate the private bar in every territory as well as the Offices of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Law Offices of the State. They also predominate legal posts in the corporate arena, and they constitute, by far, the majority in the teaching of law at the various universities and law schools in the Region. Indeed, the legal profession in the West Indies can now be described as truly indigenous.

Initial fears about quality and the dogmatic sense of superiority once exuded by English trained lawyers, are all matters of the past. The West Indian trained lawyer, a product of the Council, has acquitted himself with distinction and has attained pinnacle status in every jurisdiction, demonstrating that he/she is equal to any.

The Council manages and administers professional legal education in the Region after a period of study by the issuance of a Certificate of Legal Education. It is this certification that statutorily qualifies an Attorney-at-Law to practice before Courts in the Caribbean. The Council does so through its three law schools, the Hugh Wooding Law School, Trinidad and Tobago, the Norman Manley Law School,

Jamaica and the Eugene Dupuch Law School, Bahamas. No doubt this system worked but any system, after five decades, is due for review to ensure that it meets the exigent needs of a dynamic world. In 50 years, we have witnessed transformative changes in the world and more specifically in the Caribbean. In terms of information and technology alone, there has been a revolution. It has impacted every sphere of human life, including the education system. That the Council’s Law Schools are disseminating tuition online to their students due to the Covid-19 pandemic, is but a mere example.

50 years ago, such an endeavor would have been impossible to visualize. Understandably, over the past five decades, the CLE has not been without formidable challenges. Prominent among them is the attempt to meet the increasing demands for legal education in the Region. The physical space to accommodate an increased number of students, continues to be a fundamental hurdle, as the Council attempts to cope with an everincreasing number of potential entrants. The Eastern Caribbean has long been clamoring for a law school to be situated in that part of the Region. Trinidad and Tobago, a few years ago, had begun the construction of an edifice in South Trinidad which was earmarked to be a law school. Guyana has been canvassing for nearly three decades for a law school to be constructed within its borders.

University of London runs an external Bachelor of Laws (LLB) programme which is available in almost every territory in the Region. This programme, over the years, has produced thousands of LLB graduates in Trinidad and Tobago, not to mention the other territories in the Region. The LLB programme which was

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only taught at Cave Hill Campus, University of the West Indies (UWI), initially, is now available at the institution’s two other campuses, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Mona, Jamaica.

Since 1996, the University of Guyana has been offering a complete LLB programme. There is another tertiary institution in Jamaica that also administers an LLB programme. If I am not mistaken, the University of Trinidad and Tobago also does an LLB Degree. In addition, there is a constant flow of lawyers qualified and admitted to practice out of the Region, who seek entry at regional law schools where a six-month course is offered to qualify those persons for the Legal Certificate of Education, which would entitle them to practice in the Region.

…… should the Council assume the role of a regulator/accreditor of autonomous law schools established by Governments or private capital or a combination of the two.

These new realities, coupled with a growing demand for legal education in the Region, concatenate to make a compelling case for a review of the system which administers legal education, with a view of addressing the challenge of adequately providing legal education in the Caribbean. This must necessarily entail a review of the role of the Council itself as an administrator of law schools in the Region. One is compelled to interrogate whether this model is still feasible or, should the Council assume the role of a regulator/accreditor of autonomous law schools established by Governments or private capital or a combination of the two. The United Kingdom has similar model to which we can resort for guidance. The same can be tailored to suit our regional peculiarities.

Speaking for Guyana, the 25 automatic seats at the Hugh Wooding Law School after 50 years, is woefully inadequate. Every year, an

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average of 20 LLB graduands are unable to gain entry into that law school. As I write, there are ongoing discussions among officials from the University of Guyana, UWI and CLE in relation to an increase of this quota. I am unsure as to what extent would normalcy returned after the COVID-19 pandemic but currently as I indicated above, classes are being done online by laws schools in the Region. If this trend continues post the pandemic, then physical space to accommodate students will not be the grave dilemma that has plagued the Council for decades.

Guyana, now an oil-producing nation and with the increase in economic and commercial activities that are anticipated to flow therefrom, will continue to persevere with even greater tenacity for the eventual establishment of a law school in its jurisdiction. I have no doubt that other territories within the Region will continue to prosecute their case for the establishment of law schools in their geographic place of choice.

That offshore education is now a very profitable and sought-after economic venture in the Caribbean, compounds the matter further.

In the premises, the quicker the Council undertakes this introspection and review, the better. Needless to say, no one expects the Council of Legal Education to remain stagnant for the next 50 years.

Happy 50th Anniversary!!

About the Author: MOHABIR ANIL NANDLALL, SC. MP. Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Republic of Guyana.

www.mola.gov.gy

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Always An Admirer But Time For Reform

by Dr. Kenny D. Anthony

… the time has come for radical reform of the system.

The legal profession will not continue to survive as we know it.

I have always felt diminished, even disloyal to what I believe, because I never did my Bar training at one of our Law Schools in CARICOM. Instead, while pursuing a Ph. D at the University of Birmingham in England, I opted to do the English Bar simultaneously since age was slowly creeping up on me and my home jurisdiction, Saint Lucia, allowed the unrestricted admission of UK trained lawyers to its legal system. Some other Caribbean Jurisdictions in adopting the system of legal training in the Caribbean, allowed a “cut-off ” date when English trained lawyers could be

admitted under the old rules of admission, so I also stood a chance of admission in those states. When it was all over after the usual routine of dinners and my call to the Middle Temple, I often asked myself what really was the attraction to do the Bar in the United Kingdom? The answers are complex, but I quickly accepted after my initial outings in our regional courts that the Caribbean trained lawyers were better prepared than their English trained counterparts.

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… changes will have to occur in the teaching of law, both at the UWI and the Law Schools.

I am glad this anniversary is being recognized.

It is an opportunity to pay tribute to the pioneers especially to the teachers of law that we shared, be it while pursuing the LL. B degree or at Law School. All former students will have favourites, but who among my cohort could ever forget the formidable intellect of Ralph Carnegie, Dorcas White, Tony Bland, the inimitable and astute NJO Liverpool, and my mentor in Public Law, Francis Alexis?

For those of us who were engaged in the teaching of law at the University of the West Indies, whether at Cave Hill, Mona or St Augustine, we have every reason to be proud.

Of course, there is a minority that has brought disrepute to the profession but unquestionably, the vast majority of our students have excelled in practice at the Bar. We have watched as some of them have become Judges, Magistrates, and judicial practitioners in the enforcement of law across the region. It is always a pleasing experience to observe a person whom you once interacted with in the classroom emerge to be an outstanding academic, or brilliant lawyer and jurist, and in some cases, a Chief Justice.

But despite the successes of the past fifty years, the time has come for radical reform of the system. The legal profession will not continue to survive as we know it. Technology has brought far-reaching changes to the training and practice of law. True, there was some early adaptation, particularly at the CCJ and the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court but perhaps too cautiously. However, it is to the credit of our judiciary that judicial administrators quickly initiated changes to cope with the impact of the Covid Pandemic. I quite like the idea of remaining at home and handling certain matters virtually, by Zoom. Though possibly

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tiring for some judges, I sense some lawyers tend to be less loquacious, more focused and “to the point” when handling matters virtually.

In my view, the most dramatic changes will have to occur in the teaching of law, both at the UWI and the Law Schools. I believe now that the case is compelling for the OECS States to establish their own Law School to handle their jurisdiction. I am too, one of those who has championed greater specialization by grouping courses around career choices in Law, so for example, a student can opt to become a Corporate Specialist - and this obtains to some extent- select a potential career in the Judiciary or the Public Service or become a Public Law specialist in thinking and training. The fact is that the era of virtual technology has overwhelmed us, and the life of the sole practitioner is coming to an end whether we like it or not.

We have tested our inheritance. We know its strength and weaknesses. We either adapt or wither. I believe that the timing is perfect to establish a far-reaching Commission to review legal education in our region. We now need to climb to the next plateau of legal education and quickly.

About the Author: DR. KENNY D. ANTHONY MP. Former Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, Student, Lecturer and Head of the Teaching, Department of Law, UWI.

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The Calls For Change In Legal Training Oscar Ramjeet speaks to Legal Lumaries After 50 years some of the 12,000 former students ofthe CLE who were legally trained in the Caribbean feel that the system of training should be changed in keeping with the rapid development taking place in the region. I must state that that some of the Caribbean trained lawyers have excelled and have control of the judiciary, ministries of justice, law schools, and some corporations – a few are even heads of State and heads of government.

ADRIAN SAUNDERS President of the CCJ, the apex court in the region, Adrian Saunders, a Vincentian said “the CLE was established with lofty goals in mind, not only to produce lawyers and strive to stimulate concern for public service, public policy and law reform”. He added that after five decades it is now a good time to assess whether these goals are still relevant, and if so whether the prevailing curricula and culture at the three law schools are condusive to their attainment or new goals should be elaborated and published.”

ANIL NANDLALL Guyana’s Attorney General, Anil Nandlall in his comments to me said it is now a “compelling case for a review of the system which administers legal education.

This must necessarily entail a review of the role of the Council itself as an administrator of law schools in the region and one is compelled to interrogate whether this model is still feasible or should the Council assume the role ar a regulator of autonomous law schools established by governments or private concern or a combination of the two. The UK has a similar model to which we can resort for guidance.

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DENNIS MORRISON Brillant Jamaican jurist, Dennis Morrison, President of the Turks and Caicos as well as Cayman Islands Appellate Court and former President of the Jamaica Court of Appeal said that data is needed to make a proper assessment and said that CARICOM was mandated 20 years ago to commission a needs survey, but this was never done – preferring instead to make decisions on sentiment, added that “no one wants to be fettered on facts.”

DR. KENNY D. ANTHONY Dr. Kenny D. Anthony, former Prime Minister of St. Lucia who studied law in the West Indies and London, and was a law lecturer/professor at UWI is more dogmatic. He said that “in my view the most drastic changes will have to occur in the teaching of law both at UWI and the Law Schools.... the case is compelling for the OECS states to establish its own law school to handle their jurisdiction. He added that technology has overwhelmed us, and the life of sole practitioner is coming to an end whether we like it or not.

He added to his comment by saying, “I believe the timing is perfect to establish a far reaching Commission to review legal education in the region. We now have to climb to the next plateau of legal education and quickly” the former Prime Minister and law lecturer concluded.

We have tested our inheritance. We know its strength and weaknesses.

We either adapt or wither.

Dr. Kenny D. Anthony

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Congratulatory Messages OCCBA Salutes the CLE on 50 Years of Solid Legal Education in the Region

Ruggles Ferguson, President

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appy 50th to the Council of Legal Education (“the Council”) from the Organization of Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Associations (OCCBA) – two important regional institutions complimenting each other, and making the other stronger. The Council trains and provides quality lawyers who, when admitted to practice in their respective territories, become members and leaders of their constituent bar associations, all of which fall under the umbrella of OCCBA. Both institutions bring together the legal professionals of the region, uniting them in the pursuit of justice, advancing and protecting the rule of law, and giving life to the noble aspiration of true regional integration.

A WATERSHED MOMENT The signing of the treaty by several Caribbean countries to establish the Council - a treaty which came into effect on 25th March 1971 – represents a watershed moment in the development of law in the region. It was followed by the inaugural meeting of the Council on 20th & 21st September 1971 at the Barbados Cave Hill Campus and the establishment of the two law schools in Jamaica and Trinidad in 1973 (and later the Bahamas in 1998). It was a natural follow

through to the establishment of the Faculty of Law of the University of the West Indies in 1970, with UWI providing the academic training and the CLE the practical training for entry into the real life of the law. And, most importantly, the signing of the 1971 treaty led ultimately to the historic launching of own Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) on 16th April 2005 in the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago where it is headquartered.

Flowing from that watershed moment, and definitely worthy of special mention is the fact that of the seven current sitting Judges of the CCJ, six are graduates of regional law schools. Moreover, Justice Adrian Saunders, its longest serving Judge and a distinguished graduate of the Hugh Wooding Law School, now leads the apex court as its President and sits as Chairman of the Regional and Judicial Services Commission (RJLSC). What a proud moment for the region!

BRINGING KEY REGIONAL STAKEHOLDERS TOGETHER A close look at the composition of the CLE shows that it is structurally designed to bring together all the key regional stakeholders in the legal profession – Chief Justices, AttorneysGeneral, Deans of the Law Faculties and

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Principals of Law Schools, and leaders of Bar Associations – to review performance, plan the work ahead, and strategize for the future of legal education in the region, keeping apace with unfolding developments. Representatives of bar associations of participating states are an integral part of the Council, while OCCBA enjoys observer status.

OVERWHELMINGLY POSITIVE IMPACT OCCBA observes with pride the overwhelmingly positive impact of the Council on the Caribbean region, providing opportunities where none existed before and giving birth, starting with the first graduating class of 1975, to hundreds of lawyers spread throughout the length and breadth of our geographical space. With the establishment of our own law schools by the Council in 1973, no longer were aspirants of the law forced to travel thousands of miles to the United Kingdom – many braving the high seas on the ‘Banana Boat’ in the 1950’s & ‘60’s – to satisfy the requisite qualifications to practice law in the Caribbean. Apart from high costs, aspirants had to grapple in the UK with cultural differences, cold climates, and racial intolerance.

SUCCESS STORIES We ought not to miss the inherent link between the ratification of the 1971 treaty and the many success stories of graduates of our regional law schools who moved on to become Parliamentarians, Cabinet Ministers, Members of the Judiciary, Governors General, Prime Ministers, Chief Justices, Attorneys-General, Directors of Public Prosecutions and Bar leaders, and who serve with distinction. Most of the leaders of constituent bar associations, the sub- regional OECS Bar Association and the regionwide OCCBA, serving over the last 30 years and continuing, have been graduates of regional

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law schools. Our own Sir Tapley Seaton GCMG, CVO, QC, JP, who currently serves as Governor-General of the Federation of St Kitts & Nevis and who was among the first graduating class of 1975, is a past President of the OECS Bar Association (2008-2012).

Moreover, all the current elected officers of OCCBA – President, two Vice Presidents, Secretary and Treasurer – are graduates of our regional law schools.

OCCBA wishes the Council continued success and pledges to work towards strengthening the relationship between both institutions to enhance continuing legal education for the profession and the public, to improve the quality of legal service to the public, and to promote the ongoing lofty ideals of regional integration.

OCCBA, successor of the West Indies Bar Association established in Barbados in 1957, is the umbrella body representing more than fifteen (15) Bar Associations in the Commonwealth Caribbean, from Bahamas in the North to Guyana in the South. It brings together the Bars of Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.

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Dancia Penn, OBE, QC

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write as a grateful beneficiary of the vision, the mission and the work of the Council of Legal Education of The West Indies, (the CLE ).

It has been my good fortune to have been involved with the CLE for two of the five decades of its existence.

In its first decade, I was a student at The Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica. In its third decade I was a Member of the CLE in my then capacity as Attorney General of The Virgin Islands an office in which I served for seven years.

and made me the consummate Caribbean Person that I am. There I gained special and unique experiences which have stayed with me and have helped to inform my world view and my life’s work,

The CLE and its work have always been of special importance to me and to The Virgin Islands. I regularly attended the annual meetings of the CLE which were held throughout the Caribbean. Participation in those meetings, getting to know and learn from many of the great Caribbean lawyers of the day was a positive and enduring influence on me and the development of my career and professional life.

Memories abound: • the lifelong relationships that I have established; • sitting at the feet of and learning from some of the most experienced and accomplished lawyers and judges of the day; • excursions to the North Coast; • ice cream at Devon House on Saturdays; • the day of Bob Marley’s death

It was a privilege to be in the room, sit at the table and witness and experience first hand our leaders, women and men from across the Caribbean discuss, deliberate and decide on ways to forge the way forward for the development of the legal profession in the Caribbean.

Among the important enduring experiences, was my required work as a student in The Legal Aid Clinic. The Clinic was then under the leadership of the late Mrs Margaret Forte. One matter which is indelible in my mind is the case of an elegant, aged gentleman who repeatedly came to the Clinic convinced that he had suffered a great wrong and that he was entitled to a remedy. He had fought for Britain in The Great War, and having returned to Jamaica sought the assistance of The Clinic in obtaining a remedy. It was not understood as such at the time, but in his own way, the gentleman was seeking reparations.

The vital role that the law and the legal profession would play in the growth and development of The Caribbean was clearly seen and appreciated, as was the fact that the legal profession is a key instrument in helping to create The Ideal Caribbean Person.

Hailing as I do from The Virgin Islands, one of the smallest Member countries of the CLE, in keeping with the then established arrangements, I attended The Norman Manley Law School.

The two years I spent at Norman Manley strengthened and solidified ‘My Caribbeanness”

The CLE has been and will continue to be an integral part of the institutional fabric of Caribbean society.

I salute the CLE on its first fifty years and extend best wishes for another fifty years and more.

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Leading Women Lawyers Of The Caribbean H E A D S O F S TAT E

Her Excellency Dame Sandra Prunella Mason, GCMG, DA, QC • Former Jurist • Former Governor-General • The first female President of the Republic of Barbados Sandra Prunella Mason attended the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados and obtained the Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree in 1973. She then obtained the Certificate of Legal Education from the Hugh Wooding Law School in 1975 and became the first Barbadian female to be admitted to the Barbados Bar in 1975.

Dame Sandra began her career as a teacher in 1968-69 and then as a banker from 1969 up to 1977. In 1978, Dame Sandra began working as the Magistrate of the Juvenile and Family Court and simultaneously tutoring in Family Law at UWI. She stopped tutoring in 1983 and continued as Magistrate until 1992.

In 1992-1994 she served as Barbados’ Ambassador to Venezuela and in 1994 was appointed as Chief Magistrate for Barbados and then became the Registrar of the Supreme Court in 1997.

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In 2005, she was appointed as Queen’s Counsel to the Inner Bar of Barbados. In 2008, she was sworn in as an Appeals Judge becoming the first woman to serve on the Barbados Court of Appeals.

On 1 January 2014, she was first Barbadian to be appointed as a member of the Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal (CSAT), based in London, England.

Dame Sandra has held membership in various Organisations and Associations and has

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H E A D S O F S TAT E

chaired or was a member of a number of other Boards and Committees over the years.

She was the Chairman of the West Indian Commission set up to look at the issue of regional integration (1991-1992); She has served as Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Pioneer of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (1991-1999), Geneva, Switzerland; Deputy Chairman Bridgetown District Council, Barbados Boys Scouts Association; member of the Board of Parent Education for Development of Barbados (PAREDOS).

On 27 December 2017, it was announced that Her Majesty The Queen, on the recommendation of Her Majesty’s Ministers in Barbados, had been graciously pleased to approve the appointment of The Honourable Sandra Prunella Mason, Justice of Appeal, as the eight Governor-General of Barbados, with effect from 8 January 2018.

She was elected by the Parliament of Barbados on 20 October 2021 to become the country’s first President and took office on 30 November 2021, when Barbados ceased to be a constitutional monarchy and became a Republic.

Dame Sandra Mason, President of the Republic of Barbados, inspecting a Barbados Regiment Guard of Honour.

On the night that Barbados became a Republic.

L to R: Sir Garfield Sobers– Barbados only Living National Hero, Dame Sandra Mason – the first and new President of the Republic of Barbados, International Superstar Rihanna – the newest National Hero of Barbados and Prince Charles of England, representing the Queen.

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Justice Paula-Mae Weekes The first female President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago

Her Excellency Paula-Mae Weekes was appointed as the first female President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago on March 19, 2018 and is the 75th member of the Council of Women World Leaders.

In 1977, Justice Weekes entered The University of the West Indies, Faculty of Law, Cave Hill, Barbados graduating in 1980 with a Bachelor of Laws (Hons). She obtained her Legal Education Certificate from the Hugh Wooding Law School in 1982 and was admitted to practice Law in Trinidad and Tobago later that year.

Justice Weekes joined the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions as State Counsel I in November 1982. After eleven years she resigned as Senior State Counsel in 1993 and entered private practice. She established her own Chambers after a brief period in the Chambers of a distinguished Senior Counsel. On September 1, 1996 Justice Weekes was appointed to the office of Puisne Judge in the Judiciary of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. She presided in the trial courts for nine years, almost exclusively in the criminal jurisdiction. Justice Weekes was elevated to the Court of Appeal of Trinidad & Tobago in January 2005 and presided in that court for eleven years retiring on August 31, 2016, after two decades of service. Upon her retirement Justice Weekes was appointed in September 2016 to the Appellate Bench of the Judiciary of The Turks and Caicos Islands

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becoming the first woman to serve in that capacity. She resigned in January 2018 ahead of her nomination for the Presidency.

Justice Weekes is a qualified judicial educator, having been made a Fellow of the Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute in 2000. Since that time, she has been deeply involved in training for various levels of judicial officer and has conceptualize, designed and facilitated a wide range of training programs both locally and regionally.

Justice Weekes was Course Director for Ethics Rights and Obligations of the Legal Profession at the Hugh Wooding Law School (2010-2016) and created the current course manual, supervised associate tutors, pioneered innovative pedagogical techniques and served as First Examiner during that period.

From 1997 until her election as President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago Justice Weekes was the Chancellor of the Anglican Church in the Diocese of Trinidad and Tobago.

She was a member of the Diocesan Council and provided legal services on ecclesiastical and other matters to three successive Bishops of the Diocese.

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LEADERS OF GOVERNMENT / POLITICS

The Honourable Mia Mottley The first female Prime Minister of the Republic of Barbados Mia Amor Mottley, SC, MP, is a Barbadian politician and attorney who has served as Prime Minister of Barbados since 2018 and as leader of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) since 2008. Mottley is the eighth person to hold the office of Prime Minister in Barbados and the first woman to hold either position. She is also Barbados’ first Prime Minister under a Republic system.

Mottley has been the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Saint Michael North East since 1994. From 1994 to 2008, she held a succession of ministerial portfolios including the post of Attorney-General of Barbados becoming the first woman to be appointed as such. She is also the youngest ever attorney to be elevated to the Inner Bar as a Queen’s Counsel in Barbados.

Mottley first entered Barbadian politics in 1991 and was twice the Leader of the Opposition, first from 2008 to 2010 then from 2013 to 2018. In 2018, the Mottley-led BLP won a historic landslide victory in the 24 May general election, securing all 30 seats in the House, making them the first party to accomplish this feat, in addition to winning 72.8% of the popular vote, which is the highest share ever achieved by a party in a general election.

On 24 September 2021, Mottley addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York with a speech to support UN SecretaryGeneral António Guterres’ warnings that the

world is moving in the wrong direction. She threw away her original script and instead gave a passionate speech in which she called for global, moral leadership in the fight against climate change, economic and technological inequality, racism and unfair distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

Following her party’s landslide victory in the 2022 election, Mottley was sworn in as Prime Minister for a second term on 20 January and has since cut ties with the monarchy and moved Barbados to being a Republic.

Mia Mottley was educated at Merrivale Preparatory School, the United Nations International School, and Queen’s College (Barbados). She later studied at the London School of Economics and was awarded a Law degree from the University of London in 1986.

Note: Prime Minister Mia Mottley is an outstanding Lawyer and Caribbean Woman, but she is not a Caribbean Law Graduate.

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LEADERS OF GOVERNMENT / POLITICS The Hon. Kamla Persad-Bissessar SC MP • Former Prime Minister • Leader of the Opposition Republic of Trinidad & Tobago

She was the country’s first female Prime Minister, Attorney General, and Leader of the Opposition, the first woman to chair the Commonwealth of Nations and the first woman of Indian origin to be a Prime Minister of a country outside of India and the wider South Asian region. In 2011, Persad-Bissessar was named the thirteenth most influential female leader around the world by Time Magazine.

Bridgid Annisette-George Speaker of House of Representatives Republic of Trinidad and Tobago

Kamla Susheila Persad was born and raised in southern Trinidad. In August 1969, she travelled to England and attended Norwood Technical College in West Norwood, London and got married in 1971 at age 18. She and her husband then moved to Jamaica, where they spent 14 years. In Jamaica she taught at St Andrew High School in Kingston and at the University of the West Indies in Mona, and she was also a consultant lecturer at the Jamaica College of Insurance.

Persad-Bissessar also attended UWI and the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad graduating with a B.A. (Hons.), a Diploma in Education, a B.A. of Laws (Hons.) and a Legal Education Certificate. In 2006 she obtained an EMBA from the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business, Trinidad.

Kamla Persad-Bissessar entered politics in 1987 and became a Member of Parliament in 1995 winning the Siparia seat and in every election since. She became political leader of the United National Congress in April 2006 and the sixth Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago from the 26th of May 2010 to 9th of September 2015.

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Bridgid Annisette-George was born in Trinidad and attended St. Joseph’s Convent in Port of Spain and went on to study law at the University of the West Indies. She graduated with a Bachelors of Law in 1981.

George became an associate tutor and lecturer at the Hugh Wooding Law School and the sole practicing attorney at the firm of Messrs. G.R. Annisette & Co. She is also a Trinidad and Tobago politician and in 2007, she was appointed as a Senator and on 8 November 2007 became Attorney General, becoming the third female Trinidad and Tobago to hold the position.

In 2015 Annisette-George was named by the new Government as the Speaker of House of

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LEADERS OF GOVERNMENT / POLITICS Representatives of Trinidad and Tobago. She is the second female to hold the position and currently the world’s second longest female incumbent to consecutively hold the office of Speaker.

she has held since 2016, concurrently with her role as Minister

Senator the Honourable Kamina Johnson Smith

Minister Johnson Smith has in her first year in office (2016 and 2017), chaired the CARIFORUM group, and led the opening of discussions with the UK regarding post-Brexit trade arrangements. In 2018, she served as President of the ACP Council of Ministers, presiding over the process which secured the negotiating mandate of the ACP for a postCotonou Agreement with the EU. In the same year, she also chaired the CARICOM Council of Foreign Ministers and was the first Jamaican Foreign Minister to be invited to G7 and G20 meetings. Her first term as Foreign Minister ended on a high note with her appointment in 2019 as President of Council of the International Seabed Authority. This was the first time Jamaica had so served, despite hosting this inter-governmental organization since 1994.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Jamaica

Minister Johnson Smith was born in St. Andrew, Jamaica. She is an Attorney-at-Law who worked previously in private practice and as corporate in-house counsel. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in French from The University of the West Indies (Mona), a Bachelor of Laws from The University of the West Indies (Cave Hill) and a Master of Laws in Commercial Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is a graduate of the Norman Manley Law School where she was valedictorian and the recipient of awards in Legal Remedies and Advocacy. She was called to the Bar in Jamaica in 1999.

On 7th September 2020, following her Party’s success at the General Elections, Senator Johnson Smith was also re-appointed Leader of Government Business in the Senate, a position

Senator Johnson Smith is Jamaica’s first female Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and the first born after the nation’s independence.

Minister Johnson-Smith signing an Agreement with the Chinese Government on behalf of Jamaica.

Highly committed to both public service and volunteerism, the Minister has served in various capacities in the areas of political leadership and philanthropy.

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THE JUDICIARY

Justice Desiree Bernard Former Chancellor of the Judiciary Republic of Guyana The Honourable Madam Justice Desiree Bernard, a national of the Republic of Guyana, was the first female to be appointed as a judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). A lawyer by profession, she began her career in 1963 when she attained a Bachelor of Laws Degree from the University of London. By 1964 she was a qualified Solicitor and practiced in the Guyana Law Courts until 1980, when she was appointed the first female judge in the High Court of the Supreme Court of Guyana, where she had practiced since 1965.

Thereafter, she has attained “many firsts, blazing a path of glory as the first female to hold many illustrious positions”. In 1992, she was appointed the first female Justice of Appeal in the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Guyana; in 1996, the first female Chief Justice; in 2001, the first female Chancellor of the Judiciary of Guyana and the Caribbean and in

2005, the first female Judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice.

Her illustrious career has been studded with appointments to distinguished posts, nationally, regionally. She has served as a member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the International Association of Women Judges and as Vice President of the International Federation of Women Lawyers.

Regionally – a member of the Caribbean Council of Legal Edu-

Justice Desiree Bernard and the full Panel of CCJ Judges.

Justice Bernard was the first and only Woman Judge when the CCJ was first established.

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THE JUDICIARY cation, President of the Organisation of the Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Associations.

Justice Zaila McCalla Former Chief Justice of Jamaica

She has been at the forefront in the formation of the Caribbean Women’s Association, the Georgetown Toastmistress Club, the Conference on the Affairs and Status of Women in Guyana (CASWIG), Guyana Consumer’s Association and the Guyana Association of Women Lawyers.

Her excellence continued in her accession to the positions in the religious, education and movements for the young. She was the first female Chancellor of the Anglican Diocese of Guyana (and the first in the Province of the West Indies) as well as a member of the Guyana Girl Guides Association’s Board of Trustees.

She has also penned papers on gender and legal issues such as “The Domestic Application of International Human Rights Norms as it Affects Women”, “Judicial Activism in Promoting the Human Rights of Women” and “Confronting Gender-Based Violence in the Caribbean”. This latest paper will be included in a forthcoming publication edited by Prof.

Kenneth Hall and Myrtle Chuck-A-Sang, titled “The Caribbean Integration Process, A People Centred Approach.” These articles by the Hon. Madam Justice Bernard are among more than twenty scholarly pieces.

Her nine awards, include the Medal of Service from the Caribbean Women’s Association and the Order of Roraima of Guyana, the second highest national award of Guyana and the 2005 CARICOM Triennial Award for Women.

The Honourable Madam Justice Desiree Bernard is truly an icon in her time, a model of her profession and an outstanding Caribbean woman.

Justice Zaila McCalla was called to the Bar in Jamaica in 1976, commencing a decades-long legal career serving as a Clerk of Court, then as a Crown Counsel and Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).

She served the ODPP until 1985, when she was appointed a Resident Magistrate. In 1993, McCalla was appointed to act as Master-inChambers of the Supreme Court and was appointed to the post on August 1, 1996. A year later, she was appointed a Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court.

McCalla was sworn in as Chief Justice of Jamaica with effect from June 27, 2007, succeeding Justice Lensley Wolfe, who served in the post from 1996 to 2007.

She was succeeded in 2018 by the current Chief Justice, Bryan Sykes.

She was subsequently appointed as a Selected Commissioner to the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ), the country’s election oversight body.

Her appointment came after the December 31, 2019 resignation of Dorothy Pine-McLarty as ECJ Chairman after six years in the post.

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THE JUDICIARY Dame Joan Augusta Sawyer The Pioneering Bahamian Jurist

Acted as a Stipendiary & Circuit Magistrate for three months in 1978 and as Director of Legal Affairs in 1983, on two occasions. In October, 1984, she was transferred to the Central Bank of The Bahamas as In-house Counsel and Bank Secretary.

In 1987, she acted as a Justice of the Supreme Court for three months and on 6th May, 1988 she was sworn in as a Justice of the Supreme Court and served in that position until 30 June 1995. She returned to the Bench on 26 October 1996 when she was appointed as Chief Justice of the Bahamas, where she sat until 26 November 2001.

Dame Joan Augusta Sawyer, DBE, PC, was born in George Town, Exuma, The Bahamas where she received her early education. She attended evening classes being successful in her GCE A Levels in History, Literature, British Constitution and O Level Economics (at A Level).

She started her working career in 1957 as a Clerical Assistant in the Bahamian Civil Service rising to Higher Executive Officer before being transferred to the Attorney General’s Office in January 1970 to be trained as a Lawyer.

From August 1970 – June, 1973, she studied at the College of Law, England and private study passing the Bar Examinations with 2nd Class Honours as well as the LLB (London University (External)) also with 2nd Class Honours.

As a member of the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn, Ms Sawyer was called to the English Bar on 19 July 1973 and to the Bahamas Bar two months later. In June, 1973, she resumed work with the Attorney General’s Office/ Department of Legal Affairs as Assistant Counsel and was subsequently promoted to Counsel and later Senior Counsel. She also

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In 2001, Justice Sawyer was then appointed as President of the Court of Appeal of the Bahamas where she served from 2001 until her retirement on to 26 November 2010, her 70th birthday.

She was the first woman in the Bahamas to ever serve in those two positions. She was succeeded by Justice Anita Allen, the second woman to hold the job.

During her tenure as President of the Court of Appeal, she was appointed in February, 2003, as an Honorary Bencher of the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn, London. In June, 2004, she was appointed a member of the Judicial Committee of Her Majesty’s Privy Council.

She also served for six (6) years (2 consecutive periods of 3 years) as a member of the Arbitral Tribunal of the Commonwealth Secretariat and also as Patron of the Bahamas Branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators from inception to 30 April, 2016.

Note: Dame Joan Sawyer is a legendary Bahamian Jurist with many firsts to her name, but she is not a Caribbean Law Graduate.

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THE JUDICIARY Dame Janice M. Pereira, DBE, LLD Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court

Born on Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands, Dame Janice created history when she was sworn in as the first female Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court on 24th October, 2012 since the Court’s establishment in 1967. She joined the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court as a High Court Judge in 2003 and later was elevated to the position of Justice of Appeal in 2009. In May 2013 she was awarded Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. In March 2018, she was called to the Bench as an Honorary Bencher of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple.

She became a Fellow of the Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute in June 2018.

The award of Honorary Doctorate of Laws was bestowed upon Dame Janice by the University of the West Indies in October, 2018. In October, 2019, Dame Janice was elected an Honorary Master of the Bench of the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn. She is the holder of several awards and has been recognized for her contributions in the field of law and the administration of justice.

She has the distinction of other “firsts”: one

of the first female Virgin Islanders to be called to the Bar of the Virgin Islands; the first Virgin Islander to be appointed to the Bench of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court; and the first female to be appointed to the Court of Appeal.

The Honourable Dame Janice M. Pereira, DBE, LL.D, Chief Justice, in October 2021, was recognised by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Academy for Law in its publication “Eminent Caribbean Jurists: Pioneering Caribbean Women Jurists” in which she is one of the featured outstanding Jurists. This recognition celebrates the contribution of Caribbean women to the institutional and policy-making infrastructure of Caribbean society in areas such as the Judiciary, a field traditionally dominated by men.

Dame Janice was honoured for her sterling contribution to the jurisprudence of the Eastern Caribbean and her leadership in the Judiciary.

www.eccourts.org

Note: The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) was established in 1967 by the West Indies Associated States Supreme Court Order No. 223 of 1967. The ECSC is a superior court of record for the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), including six Independent States: Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines; and three British Overseas Territories: Anguilla, The Virgin Islands, and Montserrat. The Court has unlimited jurisdiction in each Member State and Territory.

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THE JUDICIARY Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards Chancellor of the Judiciary (Ag) Republic of Guyana

of a Masters of Law Degree (Merit) from the University of London.

In the list of Guyana’s 2017 National Awardees, she was conferred with the prestigious Order of Roraima – the second highest national award in Guyana.

Madame Justice Stella Maureen Crane-Scott Q.C Justice of the Court of Appeal of the Bahamas

Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards began her law career in 1988 and is the second woman in Guyana’s history to be elevated to the office of Chancellor of the Judiciary.

Justice Cummings-Edwards has over 27 years of unbroken experience in the local legal field. She was appointed Justice of Appeal in 2008 after serving eight years as a High Court Judge. Before becoming a member of the Judiciary, Justice Cummings-Edwards worked her way up at the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions.

Cummings-Edwards joined that office in 1988 as a State Counsel and moved up to become a Senior State Counsel, before becoming the Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions.

She was later appointed as Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions and served as the Acting Director of Public Prosecutions until her appointment as High Court Judge in 2000.

Justice Cummings-Edwards completed her legal education at the Hugh Wooding Law School in 1988 after gaining her Bachelor of Laws Degree from the University of the West Indies in 1986. She is also the holder

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Mrs Crane-Scott is a Guyanese national by birth. She obtained both her LLB and LLM degrees from the University of the West Indies in 1977 and 1992 respectively. She was called to the bar in 1979.

In 2005 Mrs Crane-Scott was appointed Queen’s Counsel and appointed as the Registrar of the Supreme Court in Barbados.

She subsequently served as a Judge in the High Court of Barbados, having been appointed in April, 2008.

In 2015, she was welcomed as a new Justice of the Court of Appeal of the Bahamas, marking the entrance of “a new generation of Justices of Appeal”.

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THE JUDICIARY Justice Lisa Shoman Attorney, Diplomat and Politician

In June 2007, then Prime Minister Said Musa appointed her to the Senate, and made her the country’s first female Minister of Foreign Affairs & Foreign Trade. Shoman held this position until Musa’s party, the People’s United Party, ceded power in 2008, when she returned to private practice.

Shoman was officially sworn in as a Justice of the Supreme Court on 1st September 2020 making her the first Belizean woman and second Belizean in general to serve in all three branches of government.

Lisa Shoman completed her primary and secondary education in her native Belize, followed by legal studies at the University of the West Indies (Mona Campus) and the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica.

Shoman was called to the Bar in October 1988, and appointed Crown Counsel in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in July 1988, serving for over a year before entering private practice. She was elected the first female President of the Bar Association of Belize in 1996. While in her mid-30s, Shoman was appointed to Chair the Board of Directors of Belize Telecommunications Limited (1998– 2000). In December 2009, she was elevated to the rank of Senior Counsel by the Chief Justice of Belize, Dr Abdulai Conteh.

Her first national appointment came in 2000 when she became Ambassador / Permanent Representative of Belize to the Organization of American States on August 25, 2000, and she served concurrently as High Commissioner of Belize to Canada until 2003. She was also appointed Belize’s Ambassador to the United States in August 2000. During her tenure, Shoman served as Vice-Chair of the Permanent Council of the OAS.

Justice Roxane McLean-George Chief Justice (Ag) Republic of Guyana

Acting Chief Justice, Madame Alison Roxanne Mc Lean George, was admitted to the Bar in October 1990, and served as a Senior State Counsel, Assistant Director of Public Prosecution, Deputy Director of Public Prosecution and Director of Public Prosecution.

She was elevated to Senior Counsel in January, 2017 In the list of Guyana’s 2017 National Awardees, she was conferred with the Cacique Crown of Honour (CCH).

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THE JUDICIARY Justice Lorraine B. Williams Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs in St Lucia. In 1994 she was given the added portfolio of Minister of Womens’ Affairs.

She was the first female and the youngest person (at age thirty-three) to hold that position within CARICOM.

Mrs. Lorraine Bernadine Williams, a national of St Lucia, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law with Second Class Honors from the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus and a Legal Education Certificate from the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad.

She was called to the Bar of Saint Lucia in 1983 and served in private practice in St Lucia and Guyana for several years. In 1989 she returned to St Lucia where served as a Magistrate and in 1991 was then appointed as Chief Magistrate.

In May 1992, Mrs. Lorraine B Williams was appointed to the Senate, and was sworn in as

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During her tenure as Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs and Womens’ Affairs of St Lucia, Mrs. Williams successfully piloted several significant bills through Parliament including the Family Court Act, the Domestic Violence Summary Proceedings Act and the Attachment of Earnings Legislation.

Mrs Williams was also a catalyst behind the establishment of the Family Court and the Shelter for Battered Women.

In 2003, Mrs Williams was appointed as High Commissioner of the OECS to Canada. In 2008, she joined the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, Italy having been appointed to serve as Assistant Director General / Legal Counsel.

Mrs Williams also served as a Justice of the OECS Supreme Court in the islands of St Kitts & Nevis and St Lucia and retired from the Bench in 2022.

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LEGAL PRACTITIONERS / P R O F E S S I O N A L S / E D U C AT I O N Dr Kathy-Ann Brown

Dr. Kathy-Ann Brown is a national of Jamaica and a graduate of the Faculty of Law, University of the West Indies – where she undertook her undergraduate studies. She subsequently attended Normal Manley Law School for her professional training before being called to the bar in Jamaica. She is also a graduate of Cambridge University, England where she gained a Master’s degree in Law, before pursing doctoral studies at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Canada.

In her professional career Dr Kathy-Ann Brown served as Deputy Solicitor General in charge of the International Affairs Division, of the Attorney General’s Chambers, Jamaica.

She assumed duties on 1 December 2008.

She was Deputy Director/Legal Advisor with the Economic and Legal Section of the Special Advisory Services Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat (UK). There she worked for a period of five (5) years with a team of international lawyers and economists on trade and investment issues, providing demand-driven technical assistance based on Members’ requests.

During the year prior to joining the Secretariat, she was engaged by the Commonwealth to provide support to the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Secretariat (Brussels) in the negotiations with the EU on economic partnership agreements. Further, prior to that, she was based in Geneva and London as Senior Technical Advisor (Legal – International Trade) with the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM).

During that time she worked not only on WTO issues, but also closely followed the ACP-EU negotiations and was CARICOM’s Lead Negotiator in the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) Negotiating Group on Subsidies, Anti-dumping and Countervailing Duty Measures. She assumed this role in March 1998 on secondment from the Faculty of Law, University of the West Indies (UWI) where she served as a member of staff from 1991 teaching a variety of International Law Courses at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.

In 2002, Dr. Brown was nominated by the WTO Director General to serve as a panellist in WTO dispute settlement proceedings and subsequently also served as an arbitrator. She has acted as counsel in a number of WTO cases involving Caribbean interests.

In 2019, Dr Brown was the only Caribbean female lawyer to be inducted in the CCJ Academy Hall of Fame at the Inaugural Eminent Caribbean Jurists Awards hosted in October 2019 in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

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LEGAL PRACTITIONERS / P R O F E S S I O N A L S / E D U C AT I O N Professor Rose-Marie Belle Antoine Pro Vice-Chancellor,

the Board for Graduate Studies and Research (BGSR), UWI

Professor Rose-Marie Belle Antoine was appointed as the new Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Board for Graduate Studies and Research (BGSR) at The University of the West Indies (The UWI) in September 2021, to oversee its policy and operational plans for development and regulation. The portfolio also includes management of administration, funding as well as monitoring and evaluation of graduate education and research throughout the regional UWI system. She previously served two terms as the first Dean, Faculty of Law, St. Augustine and regional University Dean.

Professor Antoine, a national of Trinidad & Tobago, is a Cambridge and Oxford scholar, holding a doctorate from Oxford University in Offshore Financial Law. She is a long-serving member of the UWI, starting in 1989 as a Temporary Lecturer, then Lecturer, 1991, in the Faculty of Law, Cave Hill.

Appointed Professor since 2004, she

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was the inaugural Director and initiator of the successful Master of Law (LLM) programme, the UWI’s first regional, hybrid delivery programme, launched in 2002 and chaired the Faculty’s Graduate programme till present.

Professor Antoine has received numerous accolades and prizes regionally and internationally including the coveted UWI Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research in 2006, and again in 2013 (Public Service), the only individual to have won the award twice. Additionally, she was honoured as one of the University’s distinguished “60 under 60 academics”, during its 60th anniversary celebrations in 2008 and in 2018, “70 Outstanding Cave Hill Alumni”. She also won the UK Emerald Literati Prize.

Antoine is a Commonwealth Scholar, Cambridge Pegasus Fellow and in 2021 she was identified as a Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ)’s Pioneering Caribbean Women Eminent Jurist Awardee. She served as temporary Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal judge.

Professor Antoine’s outstanding career also extends into international public service, consultancy and leadership.

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LEGAL PRACTITIONERS / P R O F E S S I O N A L S / E D U C AT I O N E. Ann Henry QC

private practice in Antigua and Barbuda since 1983 and is the Managing Partner in the Law Firm of Henry & Burnette.

She served as Chairman of the Council of Legal Education between 2007 and 2010.

Ms. Henry has acted as a Judge of the Industrial Court of Antigua and Barbuda. She has also acted as a High Court Judge and more recently as a Justice of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.

Ms. E. Ann Henry, QC, qualified as an Attorney-at-Law in 1981 and is admitted to practice in Antigua and Barbuda, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat and Anguilla.

Ms. Henry, who was appointed as one of Her Majesty’s Counsel in 2012 has been engaged in

Ms Henry was one of two persons nominated jointly by the Organisation of the Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Association (OCCBA) and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Bar Associations, Antigua and Barbuda to serve as a Commissioner of the RJLSC.

In celebration of International Women’s Day in 2020 in Antigua & Barbuda, Ms E Ann Henry, QC was one of the recipients of a “Woman of Wadadli Award” celebrating Women who have made and continue to make remarkable contributions to the development of Antigua and Barbuda.

The event, held at the Sandals Grande Antigua Resort, was the first national award ceremony of its kind designed to specifically highlight women’s contributions to national development and promoting gender equality.

Ms E Ann Henry, QC, receiving her Award from H.E. Sir Clare Roberts, QC, The Acting Governor General of Antigua & Barbuda.

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A Look at Guyana’s Legal Landscape | The Challenge to Produce

More Guyanese Lawyers

Guyana has the reputation of producing brilliant scholars and professionals in many fields, medicine, accountancy, education, engineering and many other areas. Law is not an exception, as a matter of fact Guyanese lawyers are scattered all over the world holding very prestigious and senior positions.

There are several outstanding Guyanese lawyers who have left a rich legacy and are well renowned for their legal prowess who people still remember fondly.

My father recalled Mr Joseph .A. Luckhoo who was a brilliant criminal lawyer and was famous for convincing the jury even in the most difficult cases. He was defending an illiterate man from rural British Guiana who had confessed to killing his wife. In his confession to the Police, he said “that is me wife, me mine am and me kill am.”

In the man’s defence, Mr Luckhoo who was a King’s Counsel, completely changed the confession during the trial to a question “A me wife, me mine am, a me go kill am? In other words, the great orator/King’s Counsel,

Sir Lionel Luckhoo

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Joseph .A. Luckhoo

by Oscar Ramjeet

convinced the jury that the accused was a good husband who took care of his wife and had no reason to kill her.

Mr J.A. Luckhoo was one of a long line of at least four generations of family members who were all outstanding Guyanese Lawyers. This included his nephew Sir Lionel Luckhoo, who years later became a famous criminal lawyer who won more than 350 murders cases and made it in the Guiness Book of Records as “the best criminal lawyer who never lost a murder case.” Today, Luckhoo & Luckhoo is a leading legal firm operating in Guyana headed by Mr Eddie Luckhoo SC. Besides the Luckhoos, British Guiana had legal stalwarts like Gilbert Farnum, Van B Stafford, J.O.F Haynes, B.O. Adams, Sir Shridath Ramphal, Dr Fenton Ramsahoye, Dr Mohammed Shahabudeen, Clarence Hughes, Rex McKay, Bryn Pollard, Ashton Chase, Justice Duke Pollard and many many more.

Sir Shridath Ramphal who went on to serve as a Commonwealth Secretary General,

Eddie Luckhoo SC

Sir Shridath Ramphal

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Rex McKay

Dr.Fenton Ramsahoye

Dr Mohammed Shabudeen who served at the International Court of Justice and Justice Duke Pollard who served at the Caribbean Court of Justice were all named in the Inaugural List of Eminent Caribbean Jurists who were inducted in the Hall of Fame established by the CCJ Academy For Law. Joseph Oscar Fitzclarence Haynes, popularly known as J.O.F Haynes, was another outstanding Guyanese Lawyer who served as Chancellor of the Judiciary and in the courts of the region. He was the very first Coordinator of the UG Law Programme, and in 1981 he was named a Professor.

At this juncture I wish to state that dozens of our lawyers, many outstanding ones are serving as judges and other top legal positions in the region. The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court alone has no less than eight Guyanese born judges including two in the Court of Appeal.

Bryn Pollard

Justice Duke Pollard

Dr.Mohammed Suhabudeen

Ashton Chase SC

Today there are still many more brilliant legal minds in the country and it will be difficult to name most of them, but I wish to name two, our current acting Chief Justice, Roxanne George Wiltshire, and Attorney General Anil Nandlall, both Senior Counsels.

They are among the new generation of legal luminaries in Guyana who were trained at the CLE Law Schools in the Caribbean.

I should also mention that the advent of the Council of Legal Education in 1971 is responsible for the large number of Guyanese who are qualified as lawyers. It became much cheaper and would be lawyers no longer have to journey thousands of miles to London, UK to pursue legal studies. The provision in the CLE Regulations which permits matured students who have the experience, but not the academic qualifications, to enter the Law Programme, is another reason for the increase in numbers. I must emphasise that most of the matured students are very efficient and diligent.

Some feel that there are far too many lawyers in Guyana, some have different views even advocating for a Law School to be established at Turkeyen on the outskirts of the capital city, Georgetown. At this juncture I should state that not all qualified lawyers are in active practice per se, some are lecturers, advisors, and an increasing number are gravitating to the business sector using their legal training

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as an asset in their endeavours, and as stated before hundreds are working overseas even as far as Australia, Asia and Europe.

Ever since the CLE was established five decades ago, Guyana’s annual quota was 25 students a year and this number has not increased to date. Guyana’s Attorney General Mr Anil Nandlall said that this is woefully inadequate and added every year an average of 20 LLB graduants are unable to gain entry into Law School. He said discussions are ongoing with the University of Guyana, the University of the West Indies and the CLE to increase this number.

economic and commercial activities that are anticipated to flow therefrom, will continue to persevere with even greater tenacity for the eventual establishment of a Law School in its jurisdiction.”

The University of Guyana now offers a full LLB programme. When I started to read law in 1974, one could only do Part 1 at UG and Parts 2 and 3 at the UWI Cave Hill Campus in Barbados. Since 1996, UG has been offering the full LLB programme with the Law Lecturers being many distinguished Guyanese former Judges and prominent Lawyers with many of them being graduates of the CLE Law Schools.

AG Nandlall added that “Guyana, now an oil producing nation with the increase in The Supreme Court of Judicature The High Court,Guyana

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The University of Guyana Remembers |

Law Stalwart Justice J.O.F. Haynes

by Oscar Ramjeet

T

he University of Guyana (UG) hosted the first in a series of law conversations where the life and work of the outstanding stalwart of Law, J.O.F. Haynes was the focus.

Joseph Oscar Fitzclarence Haynes, became a well respected member of the Legal Profession until his death in 1988. He was remembered as a great Caribbean jurist at an inaugural conversation on Law and Society facilitated by the University of Guyana at the Herdmanston Lodge Hotel, Georgetown on an evening in November 2017.

Born in 1912, in New Amsterdam, Berbice, he drew much of his training and direction in life from his mother, who was a school teacher.

Haynes also became a school teacher and later became headteacher at the Mara Primary School along the Berbice River. The gathering was told that Haynes wanted to become a lawyer after frequenting the Magistrate’s Court in the area to observe court trials. He later proceeded to England to study Law and was admitted to the Bar in England in 1945.

Acting Chancellor of the Judiciary, Yonette Cummings-Edwards, who was one of his students while he lectured at UG, recalled the many achievements of Haynes, who ruled on many cases in Guyana and Grenada, where he served at the Court of Appeal. She referred to him as a “distinguished son of the soil and eminent jurist; great professor and teacher. He was a former Chancellor of the Judiciary in Guyana and someone with whom I’ve had the good fortune of interacting with,” CummingsEdwards highlighted.

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Justice Courtney Abel, who is penning a book on the life of Haynes, observed that even though the late legal expert was much celebrated, not enough was written about his achievements.

He chronicled the early life and background of the celebrated legal expert. Abel’s research also revealed that Haynes persevered through his studies during World War II, and became a Queen’s Counsel (now called Senior Counsel locally) on June 15, 1960, some 15 years after being admitted to the Bar. “During his lifetime, he developed into a truly world-class and innovative lawyer, alongside and ahead of many others of his illustrious generation and he was at the cutting edge of his craft when he died and he left behind him a legacy as a truly global ornament in his

Court of Appeal, Guyana

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profession, while at the same time making a significant impact on the region,” Justice Abel observed.

The conversation saw participants and the general public examining legal issues and their social impact through research, reflection and debate. Several prominent Attorneys-at-Law contributed to the conversation, which was facilitated by the Guyana Bar Association President Kamal Ramkarran.

Note: This article represents an adaptation of the original article as previously published by Inews Guyana and was subsequently edited for this publication.

Council of Legal Education (CLE) Address: c/o Hugh Wooding Law School, 100 -114 Gordon Street, St Augustine, Tunapuna 331314, Trinidad, W.I. Telephone: (868) 235-4957 (HWLS) / 235 4958 / 59 Fax: (868) 662-9607 or 663-9596 E-mail: Secretary: dburrows@edls.edu.bs or Assistant Registrar: Kimlin.leeyaw@hwlse.edu.com Website: www.clecaribbean.com

Norman Manley Law School Address: P.O. Box 231, Mona Campus, Kingston 7, Jamaica. W.I.

Telephone: (876) 927-1235 / 927-1899 Fax: (876) 977-1012 E-mail: nmls@uwimona.edu.jm Website: www.nmls.edu.jm

Hugh Wooding Law School Address: 100-114 Gordon Street, St. Augustine, Tunapuna 331314, Trinidad. W.I. Telephone: (868) 235-4957 (HWLS) / 235-4958 / 235-4959 Fax: (868) 662-9607 or 663-9596 E-mail: adminoffice@hwls.edu.com Website: www.hwls.edu.tt

Eugene Dupuch Law School Address: P.O. Box SS 6394 Nassau, Corporate Centre Rosetta Street, Palmdale, The Bahamas.

Telephone: (242) 326-8507/8 Fax: (242) 326-8504 E-mail: admin@edls.edu.bs Website: www.edls.edu.bs

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