Four Attorneys elevated to Senior Counsel

Jan 18, 2018 News

From left: Kalam Azad Juman Yassin, Josephine Whitehead, Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards, President David Granger, Andrew Pollard and Fitz Le Roy Peters and Justice Roxane George

Four long serving legal practitioners have been bestowed with the title of Senior Counsel.

The lawyers, who were identified to wear silk earlier this year, were yesterday presented with instruments of commission by President David Granger, at a special Luncheon held at the Baridi Benab , State House.

During the brief ceremony, long serving attorneys, Kalam Azad Juman Yassin, Fitz Le Roy Peters, Andrew Mark Fitzgerald Pollard and Josephine Whitehead were recognized for their quality of service to the legal profession, and knowledge of the law.

Granger in his remarks noted that the elevated status of Senior Counsel is not perfunctory or ornamental, but rather it is a symbol of nationhood that promotes a sense of national identity by defining who Guyanese are as a people and the values for which they stand.

“I shall, with regularity, respect, recognize and reward deserving attorneys and legal officers by conferring these honours. This is the custom of our people. This is the convention of good government. This is the culture of a good society,” the President said.

“I congratulate the attorneys-at-law who, today, have received instruments of commission appointing them as Senior Counsel – a status of pride and prestige within our legal profession and tradition. The title is: a national symbol, alongside other symbols – national honours and awards, anthem, coat of arms, flag and motto – that define our Guyanese identity; a professional symbol that distinguishes attorneys of erudition, experience, eminence and excellence; a social symbol representing the values of duty and integrity and the standards of social responsibility and respect for the law.”

Last January, after a 20-year hiatus, President Granger elevated nine attorneys to the status of Senior Counsel and has since pledged to ensure that these honours are conferred annually.

The last set of Senior Counsel appointees included Attorneys Neil Boston, Charles Fung-A-Fat, Justice Alison Roxane McLean George-Wiltshire, Clifton Mortimer Llewellyn John, Rafiq Turhan Khan, Vidyanand Persaud, Rosalie Althea Robertson, and Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Basil Williams