PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The husband and brother of President Christine Kangaroo were among 17 attorneys who on Monday were conferred with Senior Counsel status.
The Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Joan Honore- Paul and Independent Senator Anthony Vieira were also awarded “silk.”
Speaking at the ceremony where silk was awarded to her husband, Kerwyn Garcia, and brother Colin Kangaloo, the head of state outlined the selection process for awarding the Senior Counsel status that would have begun when Attorney General Reginald Armour as titular head of the Trinidad and Tobago Bar Association, wrote to lawyers on the issue.
She said the awarding of silk is the “culmination of a process by which the legal profession is sustained and regenerated from time to time” through the award of silk to senior attorneys.
She said while the Prime Minister is responsible for advising the names to the head of state in the final analysis, it would have also involved the Chief Justice having an input.
“At the end of the process, the president, whoever he or she may b, acting in accordance…with the Constitution and on occasion like today formally confers senior counsel status to whom he or she may have been advised to do so.”
She said the status of senior counsel carries “tremendous responsibility” and that, like so many other professions, the sustainability and advancement of the legal work “depend on the leadership, mentorship, and apprenticeship offered and provided by those inducted into the ranks of leadership….”
She said she is confident that the new “silk” members would continue to guide the young practitioners.
Both Garcia and Kangaroo became lawyers in 1993.
The ceremony occurred even as Senior Counsel Israel Khan filed an interpretation summons in the High Court to determine precisely how such appointments should be made. As far as Khan is concerned, there should be no input from any politicians in the award of “silk.”
Khan has therefore filed an interpretation summons in the High Court for it to be determined precisely how such appointments should be made. As far as he is concerned, there should be no input from any politicians in the award of “silk.”
Last month, the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago intervened in the interpretation claim on the appointment of senior counsel, or silk.“
Justice Devindra Rampersad adjourned the matter to November 24.
In 2011, then-attorney general Anand Ramlogan defended then-prime minister Kamla Persad Bissessar, who, like him, was granted Senior Counsel status.
He told Parliament that Persad Bissessar qualified for the title because of her standing as a former attorney general and a former legal affairs minister and her record of service in the legal arena,
“Silk has traditionally been awarded to persons who hold high public office…Such persons have never been required to apply,” Ramlogan added.
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