Senior Counsel appointments correct...

improve the quality of life, to promote professional service and to encourage emulation and it represents the desire to share a sense of national identity by defining who we are and by proclaiming the values for which we stand and to be more fully integrated as a community of citizens with common ideals.

He told the new SC that their elevation will not be devalued with the passage of time. “The parchment with which you have been presented will not disintegrate with age. The acclaim of the public will not be discredited. The silk which you will wear proudly will not become shabby and ragged,” he said adding that the elevation is a reflection of the respect and reverence of a grateful nation.

Later, Granger told the media that the nine persons were selected based on merit. “I did consult with certain persons, senior persons and some recommendations are made… There is no law, no constitutional responsibility on anybody’s part and I am advised that these are persons who served.”

Meanwhile Stabroek News spoke with some of those appointed.

Justice George-Wiltshire said she was honoured. She, like others, had applied since 2003 when person were invited to do so. “Years have passed. I did not expect it, so it is good to get surprises and this was definitely one but it is an honour,” she said. Asked if she knew how she came to be selected, the judge said she was unsure but knew there was a list in 2014 and she was surprised that her name was still on it, “bearing in mind that I am and was then a sitting judge but I guess maybe that list might have been submitted. I didn’t ask too many questions…”

With regard to giving advice to aspiring young women lawyers, she said that foremost they must be committed. She said that whenever she admitted new lawyers to the Bar, she would always advise them to be a “lawyer’s lawyer,” meaning that what was looked for was scholarship, research, presentation in the court, deportment and how they carry themselves.

Ninety-two-year-old John might be the oldest attorney ever to be elevated to SC status here. He was admitted in 1952 first as a solicitor and then as a barrister and has practised both in the High Court and the Magistrate’s Court

He told reporters that he wasn’t surprised when he was informed about the elevation. “No! I was not surprised, because I said I did 65 years… I am president of the World Peace Through Law Centre which deals with settling international disputes by legal means and I am trying to write books on land as well local government law so I am not surprised at all,” he said.

Boston who was the first to receive his Instrument of Appointment told reporters after the ceremony had ended that he “expected this many years ago.”

He was admitted to the Bar in November 1982 and has served as a trial lawyer for over 34 years.

According to Boston in 2005, the then Chancellor Desiree Bernard had invited him to apply for Silk, but it took some time for him to do so. He said that subsequent to that a Senior Counsel Committee was established and it planned that there would be two sets of appointments with six persons followed by another four. That committee, he told reporters, dissolved before this plan materialized. “After the dissolution of that committee there wasn’t a resurrection of another committee but … names were proposed and [the then] President [Donald] Ramotar was contemplating appointing eight of us… and that never materialized,” he explained.

Asked about the process through which he and the others were chosen, Boston said the present system is that the President requests the judges of the Supreme Court to nominate attorneys who they feel have reached the “threshold to be admitted as silk.” He said the judges would pass their recommendations to the Chancellor who put all together and forward same to the President and from that list the final selections are made. “The list may go but that doesn’t necessarily mean he will extract your name,” he said.

The Ministry of the Presidency in making the announcement had said that those appointed were learned in the law in Guyana. The appointment were made “on account of their exemplary experience, erudition, excellence and diligence in the practice of the law.”

Fung-A-Fat, the ministry said was admitted to the Bar in August 1983 and served as Parliamentary Counsel and Deputy Chief Parliamentary Counsel for over 33 years. Khan was admitted to the Bar in November 1984 and has served as an advocate, member and Co-Chairman of the Legal Practitioners Committee. Persaud, who was called to the Bar in London in July 1976 and admitted to the Bar in Guyana in October 1976 has served as an arbitrator in disputes and in private practice for 40 years. Robertson, who was admitted to the Bar in November 1983 served as a Legal Advisor and Corporate Secretary for 33 years and as Registrar of Lands. Justice Singh who was called to the Bar in London in 1973 and admitted to the Bar in Guyana in 1976, served as the Deputy Solicitor General, Puisne Judge and Justice of Appeal and has displayed leadership in spearheading the Modernisation of the Justice Reform Project, and is the Guyana Police Force’s Legal Advisor. Williams, who was admitted to the Bar in October 1983, has practised both criminal and civil law for over 33 years.