LATE PRIME MINISTER DAVID THOMPSON was yesterday remembered as a humane individual with a focus on family.
The occasion was a tribute to Thompson by the members of the legal fraternity in the Court of Appeal. Thompson was admitted to the Bar in 1986.
Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite, Acting Chief Justice Sherman Moore, judges past and present, magistrates, Queen’s Counsel and attorneys from the outer bar were all in attendance.
Thompson’s widow Mara, daughters Misha and Oya, father Charles and brother Stephen were among the family members sitting in the court.
Acting Chief Justice Moore, who led the tributes, told the gathering that Thompson exhibited two qualities that were relevant to those who administer justice – his humanity and his focus on family.
He said the story of Thompson’s gardener, who had spent 16 years in prison before being hired by Thompson, was an example of his humane spirit.
“His treatment of the gardener underpins the legal principle and moral view that rehabilitation of the offender is one of the principal aims of our criminal justice system. The story reminds judges and magistrates that we should judge the accused only on the charge before the court and not on his antecedents.”
He said that Thompson also recognised that the core of society was the family.
“It behoves us in the administration of justice – judges, magistrates and lawyers – to play our part in restoring harmony to broken families,” Moore stated.
Of Thompson’s legal career, the Chief Justice said the late Prime Minister enjoyed practice in various aspects of the law and had the privilege of creating history by participating in the first case to be heard by the Caribbean Court of Justice.
Attorney General Brathwaite credited Thompson with persuading him to pursue both law and politics. He said Thompson loved both professions, but saw a brilliant opportunity in the legal field to serve those who came to him, and he also used it as a stepping stone to achieve his first love – politics.
Brathwaite likened Thompson to former Prime Ministers Tom Adams, Bernard St John and his mentor Errol Barrow whom he said were all brilliant lawyers and distinguished leaders.
But he said that even though many felt Thompson was “lucky” when he inherited Barrow’s legal practice in 1987, it was Thompson who created his own luck.
He said Thompson’s vast knowledge of the Companies Act, Trustee Act, labour, immigration and insurance law was “second to none” and that Thompson also had a photographic memory.
He also intimated, to much laughter from the gathering, that Thompson was spot-on when it came to the law of defamation and would often say: “If you don’t like what I have to say, go to Coleridge Street.”
Brathwhaite added: “As far as I know he was never sued in the courts of Barbados.”
The Attorney General pointed out that Thompson set out to create an international practice when he formed the firm Thompson & Associates and he urged those lawyers who were still involved in the firm to keep Thompson’s legacy alive.