A local of the Virgin Islands Mrs Persia Tobin-Evelyn to be awarded Most Outstanding Law Student over two years on 19th September, 2015 at The Eugene Dupuch Law School in The Bahamas and is looking forward to being admitted to the Bar and serving the territory. Photo: Facebook

The insignia of the Eugene Dupuch Law School in the Bahamas. Photo: eugenedupuchlaw.edu.bs

Tobin-Evelyn started her legal training at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados in 2011 where she attained a Bachelor of Laws with Second Class Honours-Upper.

A further two years was devoted to Bar School at the Eugene Dupuch Law School in The Bahamas. The Eugene Dupuch Law School is part of the Council of Legal Education (“CLE”), a regional organisation which also operates law schools in Trinidad and Tobago (the Hugh Wooding Law School), and Jamaica (Norman Manley Law School) and allows persons the option to be trained as a legal practitioner within the Caribbean as opposed to the United Kingdom.

While attending law school, Mrs. Tobin-Evelyn was awarded a total of eleven (11) academic prizes for her performance in Criminal, Civil and Commercial Law.

She admits that there were times when she became discouraged due to the rigorous demands of the programme and further struggled to maintain focus. In those times she said “I relied on my faith in God, the high expectations I placed on myself and support from family, friends and fellow classmates.”

Mrs Tobin-Evelyn stated that her achievement “demonstrates that locals can be competitive with other Caribbean Jurisdictions.”

She said now that Bar School is complete, she will be awarded the Legal Education Certificate (LEC) which allows her to be admitted to the local Bar of the Virgin Islands as a licensed legal practitioner.

Happy & satisfied

“I feel very happy and satisfied that I accomplished what I set out to do. It wasn’t easy,” said Tobin-Evelyn.

“It was about staying the course and sticking to my motto which was ‘press on’ [despite] the obstacles and challenges. I remained focused,” she said.

Finding the balance

Asked what some of those challenges were she said the course of study itself was challenging as was balancing her studies with family life while being away from her family.

“The programme itself I thought was a rigorous programme in terms of the magnitude of work that was required of the students for the two years. I think that was one of the greatest challenges,” said Tobin-Evelyn.

“Then having to balance that again with my family obligations back home. I thought those two would have been the challenges I would have had to face,” she surmised.

She told this news site that after having passed the bar she hopes to commence practicing law in the territory. She said it is yet to be decided whether she would be working in the private sector or with government.

“The hope is to really prove myself in the field. So apart from having passed the bar it is about getting the work experience, getting the training and excelling in the career that I have chosen and then making a tangible contribution to the territory again whether in the private sector or public sector,” said Tobin-Evelyn.

She said that one of the lessons she learnt while studying is that it is not advisable to specialise in one area over another but to be diverse in ability and scope. “But if I were to say the two [areas] that I have gravitated to would be commercial law as well as criminal law. I would say those would be my areas of expertise,” she stated.

Take it up with passion

Asked what advice she would give to young people with regards to studying law with a view to making a career out of it, Tobin-Evelyn said, “I would say to them if they have a passion for it…if they know this is what they want to do, take every opportunity given and go ahead and do it, whether in the Caribbean or in the UK.”

“Take it up with passion and fervour…not necessarily doing the programme for the financial benefits, all that is well and good, but also to come back and make a tangible contribution to the territory,” she advised.