St. Augustine Legal Affairs (STALA) Issue 1 | Page 11

I did my LLB at this University . When I graduated I went straight into the Hugh Wooding Law School and did one year . I then interrupted my studies to do a master ’ s degree at King ’ s College , London . I returned to Hugh Wooding to complete my final year . After law school , Kenny Anthony , Prime Minister of St . Lucia ( who was the head of teaching at the time ) recruited me to come and work for the University . My father also asked me to come and work for Alexander Jeremy as a consultant . I therefore had one foot in academia and one foot in private practice right out of law school . That persisted for about 5 or 6 years . I then left to go with Samantha Ramsaran and Nura Ali

to St . Katherine ’ s College in Oxford University in 1995 where I worked as a tutor . I began to do a Ph . D . in Insolvency Law and I spent just about one year there before my father got cancer . I dropped everything and returned to the West Indies at that point and I ’ ve been here since then .

What was your biggest challenge as a student and how did you overcome it ?

This was when I had to take a year off of school for medical reasons . It was a terrible year . After being stabilized by my doctors my cousin got me involved in scuba diving at the Scuba Diving Club at UWI . I have a lot to thank this institution for .

How has your international experience impacted on you and your career ?

It ’ s no different really . The discipline and tools which you gain at the University of the West Indies are exactly those that you would use in any of the universities . We owe this to our academic giants like Professor Patchett and Tony Bland who were themselves British and associated with the Oxford University . We ’ ve had Professor Devise for years as an external examiner . We ’ ve thus had a significant measure of quality control by virtue of our linkage with the English Universities .

Do you think the St . Augustine Attorneys of 2015 will be any different than those who went to Cave Hill ?

The main difference is not going to be a difference in terms of the quality and ability of the individual but in terms of their world view and their perspective .

What is your biggest pet peeve as a lecturer ?

I think I am pretty eventempered so nothing really bothers me at this age .

Are there any practitioners or lecturers who you ’ ve looked up to for inspiration ?

Good question . They ’ re all dead . My father , ofcourse . There are also people like Michael De La Bastide who is no longer in practice , Hudson Philips whose practice is a lot less now than it was before ;

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