The newly-appointed Registrar at the Anguilla Circuit of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, Ms. Vernette S. Richardson, has assumed her new duties after serving as Crown Counsel in the Attorney General’s Chambers.
Ms. Richardson, who succeeds Mrs. Patricia Harding-Hodge, took up her appointment on January 17, 2012. “I have always given of my best. I look forward to doing the same thing as Registrar, to give the best of my ability and knowledge to the job for the people ofAnguilla,” she told The Anguillian. She is the daughter of Vernol and Hulda Richardson ofNorthValley.
“I am grateful to those who have nurtured me up to this point – my family, friends and teachers, the Social Security Board and the Government of Anguilla,” Ms. Richardson acknowledged.
She is a former student at the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School where she graduated in 1992 from Fifth Form and in 1994 from Sixth Form. She then worked with the Anguilla Social Security Board as a Contributions Clerk.
From 1997 to 2002 the Anguilla Government and the Social Security Board funded her studies at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus. She graduated in 2000 with the LLB Degree, and continued her studies at theNormanManleyLawSchoolinJamaicawhere she graduated in 2002 with the Legal Education Certificate (LEC).
Ms. Richardson worked as Legal Officer with the Social Security Board, having worked with Keithley Lake & Associates andthe Attorney General’s Chambers between 2002 and 2003 to obtain experience and exposure.
In 2004 she resigned from the Social Security Board and was appointed to the post of Crown Counsel at the Attorney General’s Chambers that year. From April 2009to January 16, 2012 she served as Acting Senior Crown Counsel.
Asked what attracted her to the position of Registrar of the High Court, she replied: “I find that I am a very meticulous person and as a Registrar you have to always have your thinking cap on and be aware of so many different areas of the law. As Registrar it allows me exposure to other areas of the law. Having being exposed to the duties of a Crown Counsel, I was anxious to challenge myself in other areas. As this position became available, I decided to apply.”
The duties of Registrar are many and varied and are detailed in the various statutes, and there is a Registrar’s handbook.
Mrs. Richardson is grateful to God’s sustaining grace and mercy which has guided her over the years.
