It was a momentous occasion when the first cohort of lawyers trained in the region were called to the Bar in 1975. While the legal fraternity heaped praises and listed their expectations, the new lawyers said they felt like guinea pigs but were determined to maintain the high standards that had been set by those before.

Published Tuesday, October 7, 1975

First UWI - trained lawyers admitted

What the Chief Justice of Jamaica, the Hon Kenneth Smith, described as a truly historic occasion occurred in the No. 1 Home Circuit Court yesterday when the first 18 graduates of the Norman Manley Law School were admitted to the Bar.

The graduates were the first to be trained in the West Indies. Previously, barristers were trained in England. Solicitors were trained here but sat exam by the Law Society in England.

"This first batch of graduates of the law faculty of The University of the West has attained a standard of excellence which perhaps will follow that the brilliant student will be the brilliant advocate, but it is appropriate that the very high standard that has been attained by these students should be mentioned here today."

He felt that this high standard was possible not only because of the quality of the graduates themselves, but because of the quality of the leadership and tuition they had received.

The attorney general, the Hon Leacroft Robinson, called the graduates the “first truly fused legal practitioners”. He said: “They are not barristers, they are not solicitors, they are lawyers, and they are entirely products of the West Indies.”

Mr Robinson said the young graduates were pioneers, and their conduct, their performance, their integrity would set the standard for those who would follow.

“Let us pray they will retain standards that will redound to the credit of all the legal practitioners of this country and of The University of the West Indies,” he concluded.

Dr Lloyd Barnett, president of the Bar Association, said: “We have high hopes of them.”

The Bar hoped that these young lawyers who had trained in a West Indies atmosphere with a syllabus directed towards local problems would help in the establishment of a system of law that would be adapted to the particular needs of the West Indies, Dr Barnett said.

Mr David Muirhead, Q.C., Chairman of the General Legal Council, said he hoped one day to see graduates of the Norman Manley Law School sitting on the Bench. He told them that there was no nobler office to which they could aspire. 

Mr Cecil Morrison, replying on behalf of the new attorneys, said the ceremony was the end of a long road and the beginning of a new path. Some had referred to them as pioneers. The chief justice had called them a “new breed” yet they felt themselves more like “guinea pigs.” He said.

They all believed, however, that lawyers trained in the West Indies should maintain the highest standards. It was their aim to make their professional lives worthy of those who had trod the path before.

The graduates are: George Aston Belnavis, Jennifer Rowe, Elizabeth Robinson, Maurice Saunders, Denise Hemming, Eileen Boxill, Franz Parke, Stephen Shelton, Ronald Paris, Roy Stephenson, Cecil Morrison, Dawn Paris, Langston Sibblies, Rudolph Smellie, Verletta Green, Angela Marie HO-ON, Marie Thompson, and Murrio Ducille.

On the Bench for the admission were Chief Justice White and Mr Justice Carey and Mr Aubrey Fraser, director of the Norman Manley Law School.

The new attorneys were sponsored by a number of attorneys, including Mr Norman Hill, Q.C., Mr David Muirhead. Q.C., Mr Richard Small, Mr Hugh Small, Dr Lloyd Barnett, Mr Derek Jones, Mr R.N. Henriques, Mr W.A. Scholefield, Mr Lancelot Cowan, and Mr G. M. Miller.

This is a production independent of The Gleaner Company (Media) Limited's newsroom. For feedback: contact the Digital Integration and Marketing Department at Newsletters@gleanerjm.com