Sunday, 02, April 2006, St. John’s, Antigua: A spectacular ceremony of the Re-hanging of the Shingle, blessing and dedication of The Practice of Messrs. Lake & Kentish was attended by numerous Anguillian and Antiguan friends and family, regional dignitaries and Eastern Caribbean Bar members.

Dame Bernice Lake

The Chambers re-dedication was especially poignant, because the original building housing the Chambers was a rare example of traditional West Indian architecture erected some 150 years earlier and had been razed by fire.

Construction of the new Chambers building was a labour of love for Dame Bernice Lake, DGCN, Q.C. During the ceremony, Miss Lake spoke eloquently about her 35 years of practice, her love of the original Chambers offices and her vision for replacing them. That is, to do so in a manner that would bestow the appropriate sensibilities and responsibilities upon future generations of Eastern Caribbean attorneys. In her characteristic style, Dame Bernice cited and chided dignitaries in the audience with historical examples of legal triumphs and tribulations, paying special attention to the constitutional rights of the individual, the plight of the weak against the powerful, and the value of democratic principles to all mankind. In recounting such episodes, it was quite clear how Dame Bernice has earned the respect of so many throughout the region from her tenacious advocacy for ordinary and often disenfranchised individuals in Antigua and other Eastern Caribbean nations.

Lake & Kentish Chambers in Antigua

The new building is itself an extraordinary example of architectural splendor with a stone façade cut from Antiguan quarries, marble flooring and polished cherry and mahogany desks, cabinetry and bookcases throughout. The building would find as fitting a setting on Fleet Street in London as it holds on Long Street in St. John’s. In her later remarks about the building, Dame Bernice expressed her wish that “my people” know that these Chambers are their Chambers, not hers. Further, she wished that she might provide for a legacy to stand long after her ability to don her wig and robes. The new Chambers clearly memorialize her legal philosophy and high standards established over the course of her career in the region.

“Our hard-fought ancestral freedoms, constitutional guarantees and liberties and, notwithstanding God-granted rights, require skilled and tenacious advocacy. And, 36 Long Street symbolizes a permanent aspect of our need for attorneys to be independent, fair-minded, vigilant and wise,” explained Miss Lake.

| Printer-friendly page | Send this article to a friend |

World News