and 1972 to head the Unit at St. Augustine and was assisted by Mr. Aubrey Fraser, Mr. Martin Daly SC, Mr. Anthony Jacelon SC and Mr. Al Roberts. Mrs. Parker was then followed by Mr. Daya Mutunhu who passed away in 1974. Dr. Chuks Okpaluba continued as Head of the Unit from 1974 to 1978 and also lectured on English Legal Systems. Dr. Okpaluba was assisted by Dr. Francis Alexis QC( former Attorney-General of Grenada, and a former UWI Senior Lecturer in Law) for two years and, who was nicknamed the“ workhorse” by past students. Interestingly, Dr. Alexis lectured on Criminal Law and also attended the Hugh Wooding Law School, as he attained his doctorate before completing his L. E. C( this leaves us with little doubt as to why this name was chosen for him!).
Subsequently, Mr. Endell Thomas came from Barbados in 1978 and was assisted by Mr. Greg Christie( currently Contractor General of Jamaica). During Mr. Thomas’ period of leave to Canada during 1981 and 1982, Mr. Michael Castagne headed the Department at St. Augustine. Notably, the eminent Constitutional Law and Human Rights scholar Ms. Margaret De Merieux, lectured at the Faculty for a brief period. Professor Andrew Burgess, now a Court of Appeal Justice in Barbados was also a part of the staff during the 1980’ s. Mr. Thomas retired in 1996, and Senior Lecturer John Jeremie SC who came in from 1989, took on the mantle of administering and lecturing to this present time. However, he was seconded on two occasions – first in 2003-2005 to take the position of Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago and in 2008- 2009 as High Commissioner to London and 2009-2010 again as Attorney General. During his absence, Mr. Douglas Mendes SC who joined the staff in 1996 was responsible for the day to day running of the Unit.
In more recent times, the first year of the LLB programme has been taught by lecturers familiar to most, if not all of us. These include Mr. Mendes who lectured on Constitutional Law, Law and Legal Systems and the Legal Methods course. Mr. Fyard Hosein SC has lectured courses such as Law of Tort, Constitutional Law and Legal Methods, Research and Writing. The Contract Law I and Criminal Law I and II courses continue to be lectured by Mr. Frederick Gilkes.
However, the provision of only the first year of the LLB programme at St. Augustine and Mona could not meet the great demand for undergraduate legal education in the these territories. This heralded a movement towards providing a full-fledged Faculty of Law, one which seeks to serve the ever growing need for persons with legal training and education in these territories. In Jamaica, at the Mona campus, the LLB programme, headed by Deputy Dean Dr. Derrick McKoy, has been in operation for the past three years in a state of the art building.
In Trinidad & Tobago, the then government decided in January 2010 to expand the Faculty of Law at UWI, St. Augustine campus. Minister of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education( at the time) Christine Kangaloo stated that the Faculty would be increasing its student intake due to the overwhelming demand for places by Trinidad and Tobago nationals. In 2009 there were seventeen hundred( 1700) applications for admission and only one hundred and twenty-four( 124) spaces available for the LLB program.
Students can now register for the full LLB programme at St Augustine where a building to house the new Faculty has been constructed. On April 27 th 2012, the University Council passed an ordinance which took effect on the 1st August 2012 to create a full Faculty of Law at the St. Augustine Campus. The faculty is now headed by its first Dean, Dr. Kusha Haraksingh.
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