At a special Full Court sitting last Tuesday to honour her life and legacy, Justice Désirée Bernard was remembered for many things, but chief among them – and not surprisingly – as the woman who shattered glass ceilings to achieve many firsts in the legal fraternity.
Equally, however, what this legal-great was remembered for by the people who knew her best was her humility. A daughter of the soil, the former chancellor of the judiciary and former judge of the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ)—Guyana’s final appellate court—died on March 28th at the age of 85.
Addressing the gathering at the Guyana Court of Appeal, President of the CCJ Justice Adrian Saunders memorialised her as a pioneering jurist who was also passionate about women’s rights.