Guyanese win top honours at Hugh Wooding Law School graduation
A Guyanese is the valedictorian of the Hugh Wooding Law School’s (HWLS) graduate class of 2019 as Guyanese took that honour and several coveted prizes during the school’s graduation and award ceremony, which was held last Saturday in Trinidad.
The graduation ceremony followed the graduate class’ completion of the Council of Legal Education’s two-year Legal Education Certificate (LEC) programme, which is the final academic qualification required to make a person eligible for admission to the bar in Guyana and other Commonwealth Caribbean countries as an attorney-at-law.
Chevy Devonish, 31, was selected as valedictorian by the HWLS Examination Committee, and delivered the response to the event’s feature speaker, Justice Vasheist Kokaram, and the farewell address to his fellow graduates.
Stabroek News understands that although Devonish was not the school’s top student, he was made valedictorian on the strength of his academic and extra-curricular achievements, as well as other qualities exhibited during his two years at the HWLS.
During his time at the law school, Devonish served in several capacities, including as group representative to the Guyanese class (2017-2018), Vice-President (VP) of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) (2018-2019), and contributor, editor, and committee member of the Gavel, the school’s official newsletter (2017-2019).
As VP of the SRC, Devonish increased the SRC’s involvement in orientation activities, and he piloted the conceptualisation and implementation of the ‘SRC’s LL.B Outreach Initiative’, through which he led a delegation from the school on visits to the University of Guyana’s Department of Law, and the University of West Indies Law Faculties at Cave Hill, Barbados, and St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago.
Devonish, who also served two terms as President of the University of Guyana Law Society and currently serves as Chairman of the Guyana National Youth Council’s Constitution Reform Committee, was also awarded the Keith S. Sobion Memorial Prize for demonstrated leadership and innovation for his exploits in and out of law school for the period 2017-2019. In addition, he and teammates Kyla Richards (Trinidadian) and Fanella Francis (Guyanese) won a prize for having competed in, and won the Trinidad and Tobago Securities and Exchange Commission Clash of the Debate Titans National Tertiary Debate Competition.
Devonish, along with teammate Arthur Thomas (of Antigua and Barbuda), also won the school’s Parliamentary Debate Competition, for which he was adjudged Best Oralist.
Top student
Rondelle Keller, 26, of Trinidad and Tobago, was the best graduating student, having copped nine prizes during his two years at the HWLS. He was the only student awarded the Certificate of Merit, having obtained nine A grades in the 11 examinable courses during the programme. The Certificate of Merit is the school’s highest award and recognises academic performance.
Keller, who plans to be called to the Guyana Bar later this year, was also awarded the Anand Ramlogan Prize for the best performance by a student from Trinidad and Tobago, the Council Prize for being the most outstanding student over two years, and the Chairman’s Prize for his performance in Evidence and Forensic Medicine, Law of Remedies, and Civil Practice and Procedure II.
Keller and his teammates also received a prize for representing the HWLS at the 23rd Annual Stetson International Environment Moot Court Competition in Florida, where he was adjudged the fourth best speaker overall. Keller also picked up four additional prizes during his first year at the HWLS.
Michael Munroe, 24, was the only Guyanese to make the Principal’s Roll of Honour, having secured 6 A grades in the 11 examinable courses during the programme. For his exploits, Munroe was awarded the Book Specialist’s Prize for the best overall performance in academic and extra-curricular activities, and the Guyana Government Prize for the best academic performance by a student from Guyana.
Munroe, together with teammates Arthur, Thomas, and Roger Hector (of Trinidad and Tobago) also picked up prizes for winning the 11th Annual Caribbean Court of Justice Law Moot and representing the HWLS at the American Caribbean Law Initiative at Stetson University in Florida. Munroe also picked up two prizes in first year for his performance in Legal Drafting and Interpretation.
Meanwhile, Frances Carryl, 23, was awarded the Miles Greeves Fitzpatrick Prize for the best performance in Legal Aid by a Guyanese student. In first year, Carryl had won the prize for best performance in Civil Practice and Procedure 1.
Devonish, Munroe and Carryl had participated, and emerged third in HWLS’s 14th Annual Hamel-Smith Appellate Mooting Competition, which took place between 2018 and 2019.
Kristal Abrams, 23, took the Cameron and Shepherd Prize for best performance by a Guyanese student in Civil Practice and Procedure 1 and II, and Anansa Swain, 23, copped the Pelham, SloaneSeale Memorial Prize for the best overall performance in Conveyancing and Registration of Title.