| Recently-graduated Attorney-at-Law, Nakishma Rogers, is the latest Anguillian to be admitted to the local Bar. Her application for admission before High Court Judge, Madam Justice Louise Brenman, was made on Thursday, October 13, by Vice President of the Bar, Josephine Gumbs-Connor, and supported by Attorney Jean Dyer, one of the other executive members of the Bar. |
Attorney Gumbs-Connor told the Court that it was a pleasure to welcome another person who was a daughter of the soil to the Bar. She said in part: “As I have already cautioned Ms. Rogers, by accepting and taking on that responsibility, she takes on the added responsibility, because she is a daughter of the soil, of having not just to produce good work and represent her clients well and fairly – but she also takes on a specialmantle of a social commitment and giving back to the community that has given to her.”
She also stated that it was a special day as Ms. Rogers had joined the Chambers of JAG Gumbs& Co. “As such, I have tried to show Ms. Rogers the importance of the ethics of the profession; the importance of respect for the Court; respect for her colleagues and clients,” she told the Judge. “I think that this Court has been very much a matriarchal court and has on so many occasions spoken to the fact of the essence of politeness. It gets you very far and I have told Ms. Rogersit is expected of her to honour those faithful tenets of the profession. I have no doubt that, with her academic qualifications and the fact as her papers speak for themselves, she has acquitted herself up to this point very admirably.”
Justice Blenman congratulated Ms. Rogers on her success at the Bar examinations and at the University of the West Indies where she obtained an Upper Second Class LLB (Hons) degree. The Judge was also happy that the young Attorney had also been awarded the Island Scholarship in Anguilla.
“I welcome you to the Bar here in Anguilla,” the Judge continued: “I am very happy to see another person being admitted to the Bar here…It is my own view that here in Anguilla we can do with a few more competent lawyers… and also very respectful. Based on all the things I have heard of you, from Mrs. Gumbs Connor, I have no doubt that you will do well at the Bar. I say to you that you have joined a very good Chambers because Mrs. Josephine Gumbs-Connor is herself a very polite and also a respectful and competent lawyer.”
Replying, Ms Rogers stated in her opening statement: “It is with distinct honour, and a feeling of absolute privilege, that I stand before you today to be ushered in as the newest addition to this noble profession. I understand the enormity of what it means to be an officer of this honourable Court; and I intend to uphold the canons of the legal profession and the laws of this country. “For me, today marks the end of one journey and the beginning of another – that is the end of my formal legal scholarship and the beginning of my career as an Attorney-at-Law. But I have not arrived here by chance, I don’t believe; nor by the fortitude of my singular efforts. I am truly a product of this resilient and humble Anguillian community.” Ms. Rogers, whose career goal is to achieve a Master of Laws (LLM) in Human Rights, is a former student of the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School from where she graduated in 2006 with an Associates Degree in Humanities. She worked as a Legal Assistant and held other appointments in Anguilla before furthering her studies in 2006 at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies. Having obtained the LLB Degree, with Upper Second Class Honours, she attended the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica to study for the Legal Education Certificate. Ms. Rogers is the daughter of former Director of Sports, Alkins Rogers, and Mrs. Kathleen Rogers, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance. |
