By Trudy Simpson, Staff ReporterA 15-YEAR passion for law and order and 10 years of serious studies finally paid off for Det. Sgt. Gladys Brown who made history on Saturday by becoming the first local policewoman to qualify as an attorney-at-law.
Ms. Brown was among 80 persons who graduated from the Norman Manley Law School, University of the West Indies, Mona.
Shortly after collecting her Certificate of Legal Education, Ms. Brown and a colleague, Bertland O'Connor, took a bow to cheers and applause from their classmates and serenading music from the Jamaica Constabulary Force Band.
"This is the culmination of over 10 years of hard studying, little or no rest, and I am happy that it is behind me and I can now look forward to pursuing a career in the Force as an attorney-at-law," remarked Ms. Brown, who was forced to drop out of school at an early age because of various obstacles and teenage pregnancy.
Ms. Brown worked with the Constabulary Communication Network and is now on secondment to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Also, she shared with other graduates, the Gifford, Thompson and Bright Prize and the Pauline Elaine Miller Memorial Prize.
Her success, she said, came from making several sacrifices to do "O" Level, then "A" Level Examinations and then to go on to law school.
DIFFICULT TASK
"It has really been a difficult task. I went without the basic necessities and now I am broke and up to my neck in debt. There were so many sacrifices, but I think I have grown up and am better for the sacrifices and pain that I have gone through to get where I am," she said, thanking supporters, such as her son, Dwayne Spencer, Police Commissioner Francis Forbes and Calvary Evangelistic Church of God, 15 Swallowfield Road, Kingston 13.
Ayana Thomas, 23, received The Council of Legal Education's prize for the "Most Outstanding" student over two years (2001-2003), the Sir Colin MacGregor Prize, the Keith Simmonds Prize and one of three ZipLaw Co. Ltd. prizes.
Miss Thomas, encouraged by her parents and influenced by a grandfather who she said always talked of National Hero, the late Norman Washington Manley, who was Premier of Jamaica from July 1959 to April 1962 and before that Chief Minister from January 1955 to 1959, and one of Jamaica's most eminent lawyers, said that law had always been in her blood, although she is the first lawyer in her family.
Leighton Simpson was valedictorian and guest speaker was Prime Minister Said Musa, of Belize, whose son, Kareem Musa, was graduating.
Prime Minister Musa, himself a lawyer, advised graduates to "have a responsibility to your community, to act ethically and, where necessary, place the community good before personal financial gain. The ethical decision may not always be the best decision for business, but it is the best decision," he added.
He urged the region to "find meaningful ways of making the laws and legal systems open and accessible to people", and said that lawyers must understand emerging global trends and technologies which will impact on domestic practices.
In addition, the Caribbean must use technology to innovate and look to using video conferencing to counteract the "region-wide feeling that witness and victim intimidation and harassment are seriously undermining our criminal justice system."
