RE: Some news

2012-Apr-03-1129Hrs

Dear Errol,

Allow me, through you, to share some news with my fellow Mausicans.

The Council of Legal Education, consisting of the Caribbean regional Chief Justices, Attorneys-General, representatives of the Bar Councils, thelaw schoools and the Faculty of Law, is the body responsible for training lawyers in the Caribbean through Council's three law schools - the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica, the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad and Tobago and the Eugene Dupuch Law School in The Bahamas. Last Thursday, March 29, 2012, the Council, which is celebrating its 40th anniversay,  awarded me the Smokey Joe Award for Outstanding Service to the Council Of Legal Education. I recently resigned my position as Senior Tutor at the Eugene Dupuch Law School in The Bahamas. I have served the Council for 25 years, first at the Hugh Wooding Law School as an Associate Tutor for one year, then for fourteen years as Director of the Legal Aid Clinic. In 2002 I was appointed Senior Tutor at the Eugene Dupuch Law School in the Bahamas with responsibilty for the academic programme and teaching.

Eugene Dupuch, the distinguished Bahamian lawyer after whom the law school was named, used to write a column in the newspapers under the pen name "Smokey Joe", hence, the Smokey Joe Award. Other recipients of the Smokey Joe award were: Sir Orville Turnquest, former Governor-General of the Bahamas, who has been a great supporter of the law school, Sir Burton Hall, former Chief Justice of the Bahamas, who was a former tutor at the law school, retired Justice Austin Davis, the first Principal of the Eugene Dupuch Law School and Mr. Justice John Isaacs,who has also made a great contribution to the law school as a regular guest lecturer and as an assessor at our moots.

I return home to my family and my country at the end of this academic year. I will, therefore, be on spot for the next reunion.

Best regards,

Hazel Thompson-Ahye