Using the legal profession for public good… Attorney-at-Law Ronald Daniels is a ‘Special Person’

Sep 15, 2019 News, Special Person

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“I resisted becoming an attorney. But I knew from a very tender age that God brought me here for a larger than life purpose. But I only appreciated that purpose when I left high school. I have always been advocating for students’ rights in an unofficial capacity. At the Hugh Wooding Law School, I served as my Seminar Group Representative and I also served as President of the HWLS Students’ Representative Council.”

By Feona Morrison

Some of his most impactful litigations were done without him charging a dollar. For Attorney-at-Law Ronald J. Daniels, pro bono work, or in other words professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment, is a way of giving back to society. Dedicating his time to helping people is partly influenced by the help he received from many persons along his journey to becoming a lawyer. These include family members, especially his sisters, close friends, and many virtual strangers.

Oftentimes described as the well-spoken man behind the Bar table, Daniels who has been a practising lawyer for about five years remains humbled at his accomplishments; and for him, he has a long way to go in terms of serving the people of the land of his birth.
Daniels was born at Wismar Hospital, Linden. He later moved to Grove, then Kaneville on the East Bank of Demerara, where he spent most of his life. He attended Grove Primary School. His teenage years were spent at the Central High. He qualified as a Land Surveying, and Building and Civil Engineering Technician at the Government Technical Institute (GTI) before pursuing International Relations and reading for his Law Degree at the University of Guyana.
As a prerequisite to practise law in the Caribbean Region, Daniels later moved to Trinidad where he attended the Hugh Wooding Law School (HWLS) from where he obtained his Legal Education Certificate (LEC). In November 2014, he was admitted to the Bar in the Twin-Island Republic. December of the same year, he was admitted to the Guyana Bar after his mentor, prominent lawyer Nigel Hughes, presented his petition before Chief Justice Roxane George.

Daniels noted that for years he actually resisted becoming an attorney. However, true to one of his favourite quotes, he sees where he presently is as “a man oftentimes getting to his destiny on the very road he takes to avoid it.”
He admitted, “I resisted becoming an attorney. But I knew from a very tender age that God brought me here for a larger than life purpose. But I only appreciated that purpose when I left high school. I have always been advocating for students’ rights in an unofficial capacity. At the Hugh Wooding Law School, I served as my Seminar Group Representative and I also served as President of the HWLS Students’ Representative Council.”
Daniels has debated in local and international competitions in which he has distinguished himself. He has a reputation as a very competent speaker, and has received his fair share of academic awards.
Nevertheless, this father of three, who is happily married, is no stranger to overcoming challenges to get to where he is today. Oftentimes we hear about the astronomical costs of attending law school. This, however, was not the only challenge he faced. He was forced to mature early and do odd jobs from since his high school days. His mother, Marcia Daniels, was a single parent and he reveres her as his hero.
JACK OF ALL TRADES
During his time in high school, Daniels worked to maintain himself. He recalled selling magnetic earrings and clothing in school during his early high school days. A friend was his supplier. He took up varying odd jobs while studying at GTI and the University of Guyana.
He even reminisced on his life as a bus conductor. According to him, “I worked as a minibus conductor in the evenings from my late high school years all the way up to the University of Guyana. I operated with really little sleep. I used to tell one of my dearest friends out of jest that life is too short to waste it on sleep. My friend and I went to school during the day and worked the bus up until midnight, sometimes after midnight. Sometimes we would work as late as 2 a.m.”
He added, “On occasions that we did not work the bus, I operated as a bus tout, given that I had responsibilities. In between that, I worked as a construction labourer. The very friend and I, along with his other employees, manually installed a massive number of the Guyana Water Incorporated water pipes in the Diamond New Housing Scheme (East Bank Demerara). We did this from about 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, after which we worked the bus until after midnight.”
He also worked rather briefly as a security guard.
Daniels taught Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) Law to lower and upper sixth form students at St. Rose’s High School before attending HWLS. Prior to leaving for Trinidad, he worked as a paralegal at the highly respected Hughes, Fields and Stoby Law Firm, where he remains as a practising lawyer under the guidance of his mentor.
Asked to describe his practice in the legal field in Trinidad, Daniels had this to say, “Trinidad has definitely been and continues to be good to me. I initially started working as an associate with Mr. Richard Clark-Wills, and I did that up until January 2015. I did civil and immigration litigation, but my concentration there was criminal practice.”
He has represented innumerable persons charged with varying offences ranging from murder, to possession of illegal arms and ammo, possession of narcotics, drug trafficking, fraud-related offences, general summary matters and private criminal charges. Since his Bar admission, Daniels says he has been back and forth between Guyana and the Twin-Island Republic. But he always comes back here; Hughes, Fields and Stoby Law Firm has always been his home.
‘I LOOK UP TO HIM’
Daniels shared that he “looks up” to Nigel Hughes whom he described as one of the country’s best attorneys. He shared that Hughes is “very down to earth and humble, and a really nice person.” The dedicated lawyer confessed, “Ever since I met him (Hughes), I have always looked up to him. He is very approachable. Working with him has been a remarkable experience. You don’t feel as though you are working with someone who is lording over you.”
Further, the dreadlocked Daniels intimated, “His (Hughes’) knowledge base is second to none; it’s amazing how he has this profound command of so many legal areas and is still on top of the political scene as well… I wouldn’t urge anyone to envy him for what he has accomplished, because the work he puts in is definitely deserving of that output. He invests heavily in developing the human capital of the firm, and contributes generously in a material way to the wider society. He sees his gifts as an instrument of service to those who cannot afford legal representation and he cultivates the culture of service at the firm.”
LONG OVERDUE
Weighing in on a recent decision by government to offer full scholarships to qualifying students to attend HWLS, Daniels said, “This is long overdue… And I can tell you from my own experience, once you don’t have the resources, it puts you in a really prejudiced position, because you are unable to progress, not due to lack of talent, but due to lack of resources. And it is not easy being a foreign student in an unfamiliar territory without the resources to progress. It can cause you psychological, emotional and other distress. It is not easy for students under those circumstances”.
With Guyana set to become an oil-producing nation next year, Daniels is of the view that more lawyers, more so competent ones, will be required. In this regard, he said that the scholarship offer is a good idea once it is applied in compliance with the criteria set out. Added to that, he hopes that “the selection process for the scholarships is transparent and free from discrimination.”
“It would really assist some people who have been having challenges accessing this type of funding, and I could only hope that they would increase the scope of it.” Keeping on a similar area of discussion, Daniels is also advocating for Guyana to get its very own law school. He said, “This is something that I am really optimistic that the government of the day would focus on getting off the ground, because it can ease the burden on lots of our prospective attorneys. It can also be a revenue earner for the country.”
“The last time I checked, and even in my time, HWLS was virtually overpopulated and the numbers were swelling on every admission. So, some of that spill-over from Hugh Wooding and possibly from the other two sister law schools (Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica and the Eugene Dupuch Law School in the Bahamas) we can absorb, and if the access to our law school is competitive, we may even be able to siphon off some of the people who would ordinarily opt to go there.”
OTHERS’ IMPRESSION OF DANIELS
Local Columnist, Freddie Kissoon, wrote of Daniels when he was called to the local Bar, “He is a quiet but committed Guyanese; committed to justice, rights and the values that hold civilisation together. Young Guyanese need to listen to this delivery (referring to his address to the Madam Justice George upon his admission to the Bar). It tells of the journey of a young man from a depressed economy who went from one menial job to another, but the dream of being somebody in this life was the mental engine that drove him on. At the end of his speech, he promised to dedicate his life to the cause of human rights. Do we have another Nigel Hughes, another Khemraj Ramjattan in Ronald Daniels? I hope so.”
Innumerable persons across the country and the Diaspora anticipate his comments on topical legal and political issues, and profess enjoyment of his witty short stories and thought-provoking poetry.
WHAT MATTERS
Daniels’ face lit up when he said that, “I always look forward to spending time with my wife and children. They are my crew. Also spending time with my mother…once I get that opportunity. That opportunity is a really coveted opportunity for me.”
But the bulk of his time is spent working, if not professionally, working in the sense of trying to assist his countrymen in understanding many legal and political issues. This he said is, “So that they can be better informed, and they can be guided when they are making decisions which would affect them and their children’s children.”

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