Dear Editor,
On the 27th January, 2016 Mr CML John was 91 years old and he has now been 64 years in practice. This makes him a senior counsel by virtue of years of practice and not by legal recognition. I can recall in 1952 when he was admitted as a solicitor, there were only two female solicitors in practice at that time.
One was Ms Hyacinth Bleaser who from my personal knowledge became a solicitor in New Amsterdam, Berbice in the mid-1940s, and later another Berbician, Ms Luckhoo, became a solicitor. She came from the famous Luckhoo family who are well known lawyers from Berbice. These were the only two practising female lawyers up to 1950. The oldest female lawyer in Guyana now is Ms Elvy Edwards. I understand she is in her 90s and retired last December.
The late Mr Fred Wills, who was once Minister of Foreign Affairs was a very marvellous gentleman. He did excellently in legal practice and was responsible for teaching a lot of young ladies and men in the afternoons to become lawyers and was able to produce from among them a lot of prominent lawyers such as Ms Desiree Bernard, Ms Natalie Agard-Stephenson, Mr Stanley Moore and the late Ms Norma Jackman.
In the early 1960s two other females were admitted to practice, namely, Ms Sheila Chapman, Minister Raphael Trotman’s mother, and the late Ms Shirley Field-Ridley who later became Mrs Green, the wife of Mayor Hamilton Green.
Today the legal profession is flooded with women lawyers who over time have made their mark.
As far as I can recall Ms Claudette La Bennett was the first female attorney-at-law who ever prosecuted a criminal case for the DPP at the criminal assizes. She later became a magistrate and then a high court judge, and is now retired.
Today we have a retired Chancellor Ms Desiree Bernard, an acting Chief Justice Ms Yonette Cummings-Edwards and five female judges in the High Court ‒ Justices Gregory, George, Insanally, Kurtzious and Barlow. The magistracy is actually taken over by women. There are more female magistrates than male. Looking at this entire change in the legal profession, there are more female legal practitioners in the field. It can clearly be said that the legal profession in Guyana is dominated by women.
However, to date there has never ever been appointed a female senior counsel. This leads me to ask the question as to what principles the justice system in Guyana uses to appoint senior counsel. In the good old days, that is going back to the 1940s to the 1970s when people like Sir Lionel Luckhoo, Mr Edward Luckhoo, Mr Ashton Chase, Mr Miles Fitzpatrick, Mr Donald Robertson, Mr Keith Massiah, Mr Clarence Hughes, Mr Bryn Pollard, Mr Desmond Hoyte, Mr Rex McKay, HDS Hordid, Mr Bhiro Persaud, etc were made senior counsel, they could all have been said to be admired both for the way in which they practised their profession and also how they conducted themselves in public.
Having said that I would like to know why no female lawyers in Guyana have ever been appointed senior counsel and why a prominent person like Mr CML John and the late Mr Benjamin Gibson were never appointed. Mr CML John has been both an excellent solicitor and lawyer. He has been involved in several leading cases in land law, civil law and electoral law. He even was involved in drafting the electoral law for a Caribbean island.
Guyana is now at a point of serious development and I am urging all concerned to take a serious look at a number of issues and write letters to the newspapers bringing attention to matters which I feel will help to make his a better country.
Now in the good old days the silk was given to lawyers holding certain positions, such as the Solicitor General, Attorney General, Director of Public Prosecution and the Chief Justice. Two of these positions are now held by females ‒ the Solicitor General and the DPP. Also we have retired Justice of Appeal Claudette Singh who is still active. There is also a prominent female attorney at Cameron & Shepherd and Ms Elvy Edwards, the oldest female barrister-at-law. Do none of these women qualify to be appointed senior counsel? There are female senior counsel in Trinidad, Barbados, Jamaica and elsewhere is the Caribbean, but none in Guyana, a country known for outstanding lawyers.
In an earlier letter I made a suggestion that judges should have young lawyers to assist them in their research, and this would help in written decisions in civil matters being handed down without delay.
I would like to make a further suggestion: Before magistrates are appointed they should undergo some training as how to handle cases. This can be done easily. At present we have retired Justice Perry and Justice Claudette Singh from the Court of Appeal, Justice Claudette La Bennett and other retired judges from the High Court. I feel that they could form an advisory group to assist in making the legal profession more professional and respectable by training magistrates before they take the bench. Magistrates and clerks need intensive professional and legal advice.
Yours faithfully,
Jonas MF Coddett
