PRESENTATION ADDRESS by HON. RHONDALEE BRAITHWAITE KNOWLES ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS TO THE GRADUATES EUGENE DUPUCH LAW SCHOOL NASSAU, THE BAHAMAS SATURDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER, 2015 1
INTRODUCTION As a member of the first class of graduates from this venerable institution, it is a great honour to have been invited to speak to you on the occasion of the presentation of this fifteenth batch of graduates and I thank Mrs. Tonya Bastian Galanis and her staff for this honour. That first class of graduates comprised only 10 persons and I was the only non- Bahamian in the bunch. Some may say that I have sought to rectify that matter by marrying a Bahamian. To see a class of some 33 from the two year programme and 3 from the six-month programme is very encouraging. All these years later, there remains the sting, of one Mr. Keith Bell, outpacing Timothy Eneas and me by one point and capturing the top spot. I learned from that the valuable lesson of knowing the importance of a single point and consistency in small choices. I recall also the anticipation in the atmosphere at our presentation ceremony at Government House that we were going to stamp our marks in our individual callings. I see now that we have two senators in the persons of Senators the Honourable Keith Bell and Tanisha Tynes and we boast of being partners in established law firms, in the person of Timothy Eneas, as an example, as well as the first local, first female and youngest Attorney General of the Turks and Caicos Islands to name just a few accomplishments of that first class. When I arrived in the Bahamas, those many years ago, the school had no name, no offices and no library and only a small cadre of staff. I arrived in the Bahamas, as instructed by the Counsel of Legal Education, with a letter of acceptance from the Norman Manley Law School and at the airport the Immigration Officers hadn't heard about a law school starting in Nassau asked me if I was sure that I was in the right country. We all understood then the full meaning of the expression “being treated like a guinea pig”. But we made it through and there is a sense of pride in having been a part of the history of this institution from its very start. 2
Yet so many years later, Graduates, when I contemplated this opportunity to speak into your lives, I wanted to speak to you about something that was relevant to your lives at this point in time; words which you could usefully recall from time to time as you journey through your legal careers. Ideals that could help to shape the choices you would make so that you would become good attorneys and better people. I’m sure that you would have by now heard so many graduation speeches containing good measures of warnings, exhortations, affirmations and countless words of wisdom thrown in with care and deliberation so much so that you could possibly predict every word that I could say. So I started to ponder the purpose of graduation speeches and graduation ceremonies themselves. Why are we here today in this beautiful setting and why should there be a presentation address at all? Well the reason must be that you have accomplished something worth celebrating. This is a tremendous accomplishment and you should feel proud and motivated to even higher heights. You have achieved a goal and there should be a marker placed along your life’s journey to commemorate this accomplishment. It is important because it is an accomplishment the effect of which resonates not only in your lives as individuals but in the lives of your families and the wider community. Indeed the motto of the Eugene Dupuch law school is "Excellence in Legal Education and Commitment to Social Service". With these thoughts in mind I decided to speak to you today about ideals that have deep meaning in my own life; the importance of setting goals and accomplishing them and being good citizens. Of course there are very important personal reasons for having goals but there is a greater higher importance. That is, collectively we as members of our regional society and in particular as members of the legal fraternity which you are about to join, are responsible for the growth and development of it. 3
Whatever your particular circumstances and how you have come to be here tonight, you have a responsibility to contribute something for your presence here and graduates your earlier decision to enter upon a course of study in legal education, to learn and to study hard and ultimately to pass so that you would be certified today, are indications that you are aware of your responsibilities. An occasion such as this is a wonderful way for you to recognize and celebrate the choices, and sometimes the sacrifices you have made. I must congratulate you on your accomplishment today and to your parents, family members and in some cases spouses for striving over many years to achieve this accomplishment, sometimes at great sacrifice. You all share in the accomplishments of these graduates. CONTEXT Graduates, you and I are products of a real struggle for economic growth and social development here in the context of our regional community which is still referred to as the third world or the developing world. There is still the reality of continuing growth, of incompletion, of a continuing reach for an economic, social, cultural and fully developed conclusion by global standards even as Sister States and territories in OUR Caribbean community, through organisations like Caricom, the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force and others, strive for greater integration and urgent cooperation, not only in this region but around the world. Each nation on its own is struggling to survive the debilitating forces of comity, of poverty and of social and economic divisiveness, in that struggle each country stands in urgent need of the input, the talent and the specifically disciplined capabilities of each of its citizens. Its qualified sector who are trained to understand and to tackle and to conquer the challenges of this century. This is particularly true of the qualified sector and specifically attorneys, who are unrivaled among the professions for our ability to influence our society’s future . This reality 4
means that you and I play central roles in achieving sustainable development in our beloved region. I note with interest that this class introduces to our society 36 citizens newly qualified to be attorneys at law. The impact of a group of this size cannot be denied. But what impact do you intend to have on our society by virtue of your citizenship? Graduates, our society needs you to be good citizens. You may feel that you are already a good citizen simply by choosing to join the legal profession but there is more required of you. It can be said that there are four core attributes of a good citizen: education, leadership, community service, and character. The most important thing to remember is that each of these characteristics is the sum of many individual decisions. They embody a positive attitude backed by purpose. The only way to achieve your purpose is to take small actions every day. In the end, they all add up. Those individual decisions, those small actions every day, is where your focus should always be — doing your best in every small or big job that you are entrusted to do. Whether you are an associate in a private firm, a crown counsel in the public sector, a sole practitioner, the Senior Crown counsel, the partner, the Attorney General or anything else. Nothing else matters but completing the tasks entrusted to you in that role, and doing it well. Every day. Even when it’s hard. Even when it feels like drudgery. Even when it’s boring. Even when the work appears to be small and unimportant and beneath your professional qualifications and experience and God-given talent. It means being the one who can be counted on to get the job done, even when no one is looking or keeping score and there does not appear to be an immediate reward. 5
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