SVG admits new lawyer to local bar

On Tuesday, December 19, 2017 the local bar was given a boost, as Barbadian/Vincentian Alicia Dells was admitted to practise as a barrister-at-law and solicitor in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG).

Dells, who is already a member of the Barbados Bar Association (BBA), was admitted to practise law in Barbados in October 2014. Dells was introduced to the local bar by lawyer Cecil Blazer Williams and seconded by Julian Jack.

She was born in Barbados to a Vincentian mother and grew up in St Vincent, where she pursued her primary education at the Stubbs Government School, her secondary at the St Vincent Girls’ High School and then went on to the St Vincent and the Grenadines Community College. She later moved back to Barbados to pursue her university education and continues to reside there.

Dells obtained a Law degree with Honours from the University of the West Indies Cave Hill campus in Barbados and her Legal Education Certificate from the Hugh Wooding Law School in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

The young attorney’s application to be admitted to the local bar was heard before Madam Justice the honorable Esco Henry, judge of the High Court.

In delivering her response, Dells took the opportunity to acknowledge God, her family, the local attorneys who facilitated her call, her friend, counsel Ranelle Roberts-Williams and other friends who offered their support and encouragement during her time of study and thereafter.

She especially thanked her mother Paula Dells, her grandmother Rita Dells, her uncle Collie Dells and her aunt Necla Dells, who were all present at the hearing. She noted that she was only able to make it thus far through the various sacrifices made by her mother.

“I am grateful for my mother, who sacrificed her story, so that my story could be told.”

Dells promised to uphold the standards of the legal profession and noted that she will continue to practise law with honesty and integrity, while being mindful of her duty to give back to her community, as she recognized that “to whom much is given, much is expected”.

She also shared her experience as an attorney in Barbados, where she currently practises in chambers as a general practitioner.

She has a keen interest in human rights and social justice and since 2014 has been an executive member of the SAVE Foundation, a leading non-profit in Barbados, which spreads awareness and advocates on behalf of victims of domestic abuse.

Since 2015 Dells has delivered several presentations across Barbados on the Legal Response to Domestic Violence in Barbados, with particular emphasis on the Domestic Violence (Protection Orders) Act and its 2016 amendments. She is a former journalist.