The country’s principal judge has urged 18 new senior attorneys to mentor the younger members of the profession.
Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson was speaking as he welcomed 18 Queen’s Counsel to the Inner Bar in a special ceremony held in a specially constituted court at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre on Friday.
Watched by Governor General Dame Sandra Mason, members of the judiciary, the magistracy, fellow attorneys and their family the 18, including Minister of Transport Michael Lashley a former defence lawyer, took their oaths before they were invited to take their seats at the Inner Bar.
Sir Marston, who noted the wide and varied legal practices of the 18, said they had been elevated to Queen’s Counsel because they had demonstrated leadership at the Bar.
“Your areas of expertise have gone far and wide and it speaks volumes to the level of excellence which you have demonstrated,” the Chief Justice noted.
But he challenged the new Queen’s Counsel, as he had done on Thursday when new Queen’s Counsel Registrar Barbara Cooke-Alleyne, her husband Ramon Alleyne and Acting High Court judge Alrick Scott were admitted to the Inner Bar, to mentor younger members of the fraternity.
“Some time ago in another place I was told, based on the fact that I had become a member of the junior judiciary, that I should grab one person with each hand and bring that person with me,” Sir Marston told the senior attorneys.
“And I am going to ask you to do the same thing. At least two. Mentor them. show them the path that you have taken. Show them where it has led and you will be certain that they will follow you to the Inner Bar,” the Chief Justice declared as he congratulated them.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite told them they owed it to the country and the legal profession to pass on their combined vast store of knowledge to younger attorneys.
New Queen’s Counsel St Clair Howell, who spoke on behalf of the 18, said they were grateful to be elevated “from being clothed in the humble raiment of stuff to the more refined apparel of silk, thereby conferring upon us the distinguished professional designation of Queen’s Counsel”.
He said the 18 pledged their “fealty and allegiance to Her Majesty the Queen of Barbados” and declared that they would do “all in their power” to give the best advice and counsel when called upon to do so. (HLE)
