Talibah Byron responds to the Call
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – In a week that was already highly significant for the Byron family as it marks the occasion when Sir Dennis Byron is being sworn in as President of the Caribbean Court of Justice (Sept. 1), his niece, Talibah Victoria O. Byron was called to the Bar in St. Kitts yesterday (Aug. 31, 2011)
When this new barrister at law, in her maiden speech, spoke of the ‘amazing support system’ with which she was blessed, she was referring to none other than her sponsor and father, Terence Byron, another legal luminary in St. Kitts and former Ambassador to Taiwan in the previous administration, and her co-sponsor and uncle Vincent Byron Junior, also an attorney at law and presently a Senator in Parliament for the Opposition Party on St. Kitts.
Talibah is now the sixth member of the Byron family responding to the call of embarking on a legal career and if the testimony of her colleague, Attorney at law Leah Crag-Chadderton, who described her as ‘brilliant’ rings true, she will soon be regarded as yet another Byron luminary in St. Kitts.
In addition to her uncles who were present at the ceremony, her aunt Marcella's daughter, Janeen, has also chosen this profession and who knows, they may all have followed in the footsteps of her late great uncle, Cecil Byron of Nevis.
Talibah Byron is a product of the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College, St. Kitts, University of Leicester, U.K., and the Norman Manley Law School, Jamaica. She has gained much practical and professional education through internships at Leicester, Jamaica. Tanzania and at her father’s law firm Byron and Byron right here in St. Kitts.
In a very moving maiden speech during the ceremony yesterday, she was at times overcome with emotion. She fervently thanked God and the Judge, (who granted her at very short notice the hearing of her Application thus enabling her family, including Sir Dennis, to share in the celebration.)
She also thanked her very supportive parents, the members of the esteemed Bar- for coming at incredibly short notice to support and to welcome her into this great fraternity, - and she thanked as well her sponsor and co-sponsor for their words of love and encouragement.
The young attorney craved the indulgence of her father to recall advice he had given her at a critical time during a period of frustration. This is no doubt one aspect of the amazing support system she referred to with which she was blessed.
He said “Talibah, you are not going to win every case. Winning feels nice but trust me, that is not what this is about. What is important is that you always strive for justice and strive to uphold the noble traditions of this great profession. You must always do your job with the utmost honour and honesty, no matter what. When you lose, because you will lose some, you will do so gracefully and with your dignity intact, knowing that your objective was justice, and not to ‘win at all costs’. It is infinitely better to lose a case than to lose your integrity.”
Sound advice also came from the resident Judge, His Lordship Justice Errol Thomas. Among other things, he advised her to keep abreast of the law, to practice honesty, punctuality and courtesy in the Court and he advised her to treat her clients with respect, compassion and honesty.
Justice Thomas left her with the famous quote of Abraham Lincoln which states:
‘Resolve to be honest at all events; and if in your own judgment you cannot be an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without being a lawyer.”
It is expected that Talibah will join the firm of Byron and Byron and take her seat alongside her father and uncle to carry on the family tradition of providing sound legal advice to their clients.
