Anguilla’s newest lawyer, Kennedy Hodge, commenced his legal internship this week at the law chambers of Alex Richardson and Associates. Mr. Hodge successfully pursued his Master of Laws degree (LLM) at Liverpool John Moores University in Liverpool, England from September 2017 to August 2018, then undertook the Bar Professional Training Course at Manchester Metropolitan University in Manchester over the 2018-19 academic year. He was called to the Bar of England and Wales on November 28th, 2019 in a ceremony at Gray’s Inn of Court in London, England.
Mr. Hodge, who is well known in Anguilla and is running as an Island wide candidate for the Anguilla Progressive Movement (APM) in Anguilla’s upcoming general elections, is a qualified telecommunications engineer having successfully completed his Bachelor of Engineering degree in Telecommunications Systems Management and Design at Anglia Polytechnic University in England in 1992. He joined Anguilla’s then sole telecommunications provider Cable & Wireless (C&W) (now FLOW) at the age of 16 as a trainee telecommunications technician, and quickly rose to Head of Engineering at C&W’s Anguilla Business Unit. Mr. Hodge said he had always wanted to be a lawyer but, when he was 16 years old and about to finish High School, Anguilla needed engineers to help build the island’s infrastructure and he was one of only two persons on Anguilla with the qualifications required for acceptance on the engineering courses, so he put Anguilla’s needs ahead of his personal goals and became an engineer.
However, as Mr. Hodge approached mid-life his family and friends, particularly his brother Tyrone Hodge in the USA and childhood friend local veterinarian Dr. Patrick Vanterpool, knowing of his childhood dream to become a lawyer, kept pushing him to follow his dream.
Mr. Hodge said he made up his mind on awakening before dawn on around 19th August 2017, got out of bed while the rest of his family slept, and applied to several English universities. By 24th August 2017, 5 days later, he was accepted at Liverpool John Moores University; on September 1st 2017 he got a small loan from Anguilla Mortgage Company to cover tuition and initial living expenses; on September 2nd he was on the plane to England, and on September 6th 2017 he completed his enrolment at the university and commenced his Masters degree course. He says, “If you really want to do something, just get up and do it – if you don’t move, you will never do it. Only 19 days passed between my making up my mind in my home in Anguilla to study law and my actually commencing my law studies in England, 4,000 miles away.”
Mr. Hodge is also giving thanks to the Lord God. He stated that many times obstacles and difficulties arose but God simply moved them out of the way and opened doors for him, he never once had to worry. He said, “It was amazing how, as every difficulty approached, when I prayed to God for Him to deal with the difficulty, it just simply disappeared! On every single occasion, without fail! Doors simply opened in front of me as I needed to move to the next step.”
As part of his bar training, Mr. Hodge marshalled with Her Honour Justice Suzanne Goddard QC in Manchester Crown Court, and had the privilege of sitting alongside her on the bench in Manchester Crown Court as she passed sentence in one of four trials on Britain’s worst ever serial rapist Reynard Sinaga, the news of whose over-100 rapes of men in Manchester is now hitting the press after being embargoed for several months while he faced further trials.
Mr. Hodge says that while his LLM degree and Bar Training courses were very taxing and stressful he very much enjoyed the learning experience. “The satisfaction of having achieved my LLM degree and my qualification as a Barrister is tremendous. My Call to the Bar ceremony at Gray’s Inn in London was a most impressive event and was worth all the sleepless nights and exam stresses. My wife travelled to England with me to attend my Call, I wanted my mother to attend also but she did not feel up to the long transatlantic trip. Fortunately my daughter was already in England attending the same university at which I did my Bar Training course, my niece Jordia Hodge was in London studying law, and they were both able to attend as my guests. So I had my wife, daughter and niece with me at my Call.”
Mr. Hodge added, “I am especially grateful to senior Anguillian lawyer Alex Richardson for giving me the opportunity to do my required 6-month Internship at his law chambers Alex Richardson & Associates.”
Kennedy Hodge is the son of Mrs. Olive Hodge, MBE and Anguilla’s first Treasurer and Comptroller of Customs, shipwright, sea captain and hero of the Anguilla Revolution the late Walter G. Hodge; nephew of Anguilla’s revolutionary leader the late Ronald Webster, and brother of US Virgin Islands Supreme Court Chief Justice Rhys Hodge.
