GRENADA Public Service Commission Chairman, Attorney-at-Law Derick Fields Sylvester, has been admitted to the Bar in Guyana.
Hours prior to his admission on Friday, the Attorney-at-Law met with the local media at the University of Guyana, Turkeyen Campus in the presence of the University’s Registrar Dr Nigel Gravesande.Sylvester, who has been an attorney for the past 15 years, said the time has come for him to experience other jurisdictions given the limitations in Grenada.
Grenada has a population of approximately 100,000 and according to him, this presents a limitation with regard to the quantity of cases.
He practises in the areas of administrative, criminal, civil litigation, commercial, constitutional, conveyancing, family law, human rights, insurance, labour, public law, mediation and non-contentious matters.
In a quest to broaden his horizon, the Attorney-at-Law after being admitted to local bar in Grenada in October 2001, moved to be admitted in St Lucia in 2015.
“It is a means of embracing other jurisdictions and not restricting yourself to your country of birth…. and I believe that is what the Caribbean is all about and that is what Caribbean integration is all about,” the Chairman of the Grenada Public Service Commission said, describing himself as a champion of Caribbean integration.
He was encouraged to practise law in Guyana by Dr Gravesande, who taught him history back in Grenada. For him, Dr Gravesande has provided yeoman service to the people of Grenada, having served as the Registrar of the T.A. Marryshow Community College; Director of Trade, Tourism, and International Economic Cooperation in Grenada; in addition to being the Director of Planning and Projects at the Ministry of Education.
“Dr Gravesande contributed to our country for the last 28 years, and he has done so with pride, grace, elegance and intelligence,” Sylvester posited.
Like Dr Gravesande, Attorney-at-Law Sylvester continues to serve his country with pride.
In addition to being the Chairman of the Grenada Public Service Commission, he serves as the Chairman of the Grenada Football Association Appeal Tribunal Disciplinary Committee.
Between February 2013 and October 2013, he served as the Director of the Board of Directors of the Grenada Housing Authority; and from January 2009 to November 2013 as Chairman of the Allied Health Professional Council.
Sylvester was also appointed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a diplomat for the tri-island State of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique in October 2014.
In December, 2011, he was declared ‘Personality of the Year’ by the Grenada Informer, one of the leading local newspapers; and also declared one of the ‘Top 3 Male Personalities’ in the State of Grenada for the year 2013 by the said newspaper.
He was also a part of the legal team at the High Court, Court of Appeal, Privy Council and Re-Sentencing in Grenada’s most historic case which arose out of the fall of the Grenada Revolution in 1983- Case No. 19 of 1984, The Queen vs Callistus Bernard, Lester Redhead, Christopher Stroude, Hudson Austin, Bernard Coard, Liam James, Leon Cornwall, John Anthony Ventour, Dave Bartholomew, Ewart Layne, Colville McBarnette, Selwyn Strachan and Cecil Prime.
Sylvester has done over 30 homicide cases in the Supreme Court of Grenada, with over 20 murder trials included, and has successfully represented clients in all areas of the law throughout the various courts in the legal system.