Former Chancellor Desiree Bernard passes on

Mar 29, 2024 News

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Kaieteur News – Former Chancellor of the Judiciary, Desiree Bernard passed away on Thursday at her home in Trinidad and Tobago, relatives confirmed. She died in her sleep according to reports.

She was 85.

Leading tributes was President Irfaan Ali who said “It is with profound sadness that I have learnt of the passing of a true icon of the legal profession, Justice (rtd.) Desiree Bernard. Her remarkable career as Chief Justice and Chancellor of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, alongside her esteemed tenure as a Justice of the Caribbean Court of Justice, left an indelible mark on our legal landscape, one that all Guyanese should take pride in.” President Ali said Justice Bernard was a trailblazer for women in the field of law. “Her stellar legal career, personal integrity, and her outstanding legacy, I am confident, will continue to inspire all who seek to serve within our legal system. On behalf of the Government and people of Guyana, I extend my deepest condolences to her relatives and the entire legal fraternity. The loss of Justice Bernard is deeply felt, not just within our country but throughout the region.”

Justice Bernard’s legal career began in 1963 when she acquired her Bachelor of Arts Degree. She would start practicing privately, between the 1964 and 1980. Justice Bernard changed lanes in 1980 and started her judicial career. She became the first female High Court Judge in the Supreme Court of Guyana.  In 1992 Justice Bernard again created history in Guyana and the Caribbean when she first female Court of Appeal Judge. Justice Bernard was also instrumental in setting up the Women Lawyers’ Association in Guyana, for which she is a former president. At a special session to honour her life back in 2024 then President of the Caribbean Court of Justice, Dennis Byron had said that Justice Bernard had served as an international tribunal interpreting the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas that governs the 15-member regional bloc, CARICOM, and was awarded the Caricom Triennial Award for Women.
She broke barriers in Guyana and the Caribbean when she became the first female Chancellor of the Judiciary in Guyana. She served in that position between 2001 and 2005. In 2005 Justice Bernard took up a position at the Caribbean Court of Justice. According to Justice Byron, throughout Bernard’s career she has opened various avenues for people in the Caribbean Region in the area of Commercial, Land and Public law etc. Regionally, she was the founding Secretary of the Caribbean Women’s Association, a Member and Chair of the Caribbean Steering Committee for Women’s Affairs, later established as the Women and Development Unit of UWI.  Internationally, she served as both rapporteur (1982-1984) and Chair (1985-1989) of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

Justice Bernard was born on 2 March 1939 in Georgetown– the only child of William and Maude Bernard.^[Her father was a Sergeant of Police. She attended St Ambrose School in Georgetown and won a place at Bishops High School. She planned to become a teacher, until a family friend encouraged her to consider law. She attained a Bachelor of Laws degree with honours from the University of London in 1963. Bernard qualified as a solicitor in 1964 and was in private practice until 1980. She was appointed a Magistrate in 1970 and a Commissioner of Oaths and Notary Public in 1976. In 1977, she was admitted to the English Roll of Solicitors.

In 2011, Bernard was appointed as a judge of the Inter-American Development Bank Administrative Tribunal in Washington, D.C. In December 2014, she was appointed to the Bermuda Court of Appeal by Governor George Fergusson. Bernard had received two of Guyana’s three highest national awards, the Cacique Crown of Honour and the Order of Roraima. In 2005, she received the CARICOM Triennial Award for Women for her role in advocating for women’s development. In 1989, Bernard was awarded the University of Guyana Award for Achievement in Law. In 2007, she was given an honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of the West Indies.^[In October 2017, she was honoured in New York City by the Guyana-Jamaica Friendship Association.

Chief Justice of Belize, Guyanese, Justice Louise Blenman, in a statement noted that Justice Bernard was a female trailblazer as a lawyer and judge, both in Guyana and the wider Caribbean. “Desiree was an exemplar who blazed the trail and established several firsts: First female Judge in Guyana; First female Chief Justice in Guyana. First female Chancellor. First Female Judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice. She was a stalwart who contributed greatly to Guyana and our region’s jurisprudence. In addition, she was dignified, kind, honest and compassionate to everyone. She was a wonderful lady. Desiree was deeply admired and respected at home, regionally and internationally by others, including judges”, the Chief Justice of Belize noted.

She said Bernard’s contributions to the region’s jurisprudence was recently quite fittingly recognised by the Caribbean Court of Justice Academy for Law, honouring her as a Pioneering Woman Jurist. Director of Public Prosecutions, Shalimar Ali-Hack said “Despite having an extensive practice in the Civil law before she was appointed as a Puisne Judge she sat in many criminal cases in the High Court in the Assizes as well as in the Court of Appeal and the Caribbean Court of Justice showing her diligence and ability to deal with all aspects of the law. She has set a high standard for all judges who aspire to emulate her especially female judges. She always commented at the admission of a young female lawyer to the bar that more women are now being admitted but they must not just be numbers they must strive to excel at the bar. This was her charge to young female lawyers on their admission.”

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• Chancellor, Desiree Bernard, Governor George Fergusson, passes, Trinidad and Tobago

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