The morning of Thursday, May 7th, 2026, saw Anguilla’s former Minister of Education and Social Development, Ms. Dee-Ann Kentish Rogers, being admitted to the Bar of Lawyers. The swearing in ceremony took place in the Anguilla Circuit of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, in The Valley.
Making prime application with commendations on behalf of Ms. Kentish-Rogers was her aunt, Attorney Joyce Kentish-Egan, KC. Ms. Kentish-Rogers comes from a pedigree of solicitors. Her great aunt, the renowned late Dame Bernice Lake, QC; her Aunt Joyce Kentish-Egan, KC, and her cousins, Kerith, Kendrickson, and Nakishma, have all made their mark in the legal arena, making her a third generation solicitor. What’s more, her dad, Kenth Rogers, who resides in the Virgin Islands, is himself also a lawyer.
In petitioning the Honourable Justice Raulston Glasgow regarding Attorney Kentish-Rogers’ qualities and qualifications, Attorney Kentish-Egan testified in part: “This application is supported by the affidavit of the applicant, Dee-Ann Kendra Kentish-Rogers, who is over the age of twenty-one.
“She is a British citizen and a belonger of Anguilla, and here I hold exhibits that support that fact… She has earned a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Birmingham, as well as a certificate which evidences her call to the Bar in England and Whales by the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple.
“There is evidence that following her call to the Bar in England, she returned home to Anguilla, the place of her birth, and she did an aggregate of six months pupilage under your humble servant. During that period of time I can certify that she demonstrated the acumen, capacity and dedication to deal with the tasks that were assigned to her.
“Having taken a detour into public service; on May 26, 2025 she returned to the Chambers of Joyce Kentish and Associates and did a further pupilage under her cousin, Kerith Kentish.”
She continued: “I can say that the applicant is a person of good character, she has paid into the treasury, she has not been required to pay any fines, she has no convictions, and a copy of her Police Certificate is evidence of that…Her application is further supported by an Affidavit of Identity submitted by Senior at the Bar, Ms. Yvette Wallace.”
Attorney Kerith Kentish, the applicant’s cousin, also commended her to the Honourable Justice Glasgow. “Your Lord, I respectfully rise to present this application before this Honourable Court on behalf of my cousin, Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers, to be admitted as a barrister/solicitor in the Anguilla Circuit of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.
“Your Lord, I do so with enormous pride and confidence and a profound sense of personal joy. I am here today not only as Council Kerith Kentish, but as Dee-Ann’s cousin, and truthfully one of the first sisters I have had in this life of forty years.
“I have known her all my life, Your Lord. I have known her in childhood; in mischief; in triumph and in disappointment; in public life; in private life; and most recently in her pupilage. I have had the privilege from May 26th, 2025 until now of helping to guide her formal entry into this noble profession…
“Dee-Ann was a member of the Literary Debating Society while attending the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School. She joined early, she excelled, and she represented Anguilla with distinction throughout the Leeward Islands. She was adjudged the Best Speaker in Tortola in 2011, and led the Anguilla team to victory in 2012 while being the President of that Society…
“She was raised in a family of lawyers, and indeed she was much closer to the law that I ever was… Dee-Ann was born on January 13th 1993, and by August of that same year, there was already a playpen for her in her mother’s office at Lake & Kentish Chambers in The Quarter. Dee-Ann’s day-care was in chambers; her after-school programme was in chambers; her playground was in chambers; the lawyers and staff at Lake & Kentish all played a role in raising her…My Lord, it is therefore fair to say that Dee-Ann was raised by the profession itself.”
Mr. Kentish also outlined Dee-Ann’s qualifications relative to her Specialist Mediation training and her Bachelors Degree which she attained from her schooling in the UK, as well as her achievement in making history in 2018 as the first black woman to be crowned Miss Universe Great Britain.
Words of commendation and congratulations were also extended to Dee-Ann from another cousin of the legal cloth in Antigua, who made a brief address via video feed. Kendrickson Kentish, KC, also spoke to how Dee-Ann had grown up, naturally, within the law.
In responding, His Lordship Justice Glasgow accepted the application and then invited Attorney Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers to come before him to take the oath. With the Holy Bible lifted in her right hand, she swore: “I, Dee-Ann Kendra Kentish-Rogers, make oath and say that that I will well and faithfully demean myself in the performance of my duties as a barrister of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in the Anguilla Circuit to the best of my ability and knowledge, so help me God.”
Following the oath, Ms. Kentish-Rogers was fitted with the Barrister’s Robe by her Cousin Kerith Kentish. A special welcome and acceptance speech was delivered by President of the Bar Association, Ms. Merline Barrett. Many of her colleagues rose to offer sentimental remarks and congratulations for Ms. Kentish-Rogers joining the Bar of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in the Anguilla Circuit.
By: James R. Harrigan
