…young attorney Chevy Devonish

It is often said “Love what you do and do what you love” and this was proven by newly sworn-in attorney-at-law Chevy Devonish when he was admitted to the local bar on Tuesday.

DEVONISH, a journalist, a University of Guyana lecturer and now an attorney, was admitted to the bar by Acting Chief Justice (CJ) Roxane George-Wiltshire at the Demerara High Court.

His petition was presented by attorney-at-law Stephen Fraser, SC who presented the court with a brief biography of Devonish.

The new attorney-at-law holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations and a Bachelor of Law Degree (LLB.).

Balancing the world of law and journalism, Devonish graduated from the Hugh Wooding Law School (HWLS) in Trinidad and was awarded his Legal Education Certificate (LEC) on September 6, 2019.

There, he was selected as valedictorian by the HWLS Examination Committee and also served as group representative to the Guyanese class (2017-2018), Vice-President (VP) of the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) from2018-2019.
Devonish also served as contributor, editor, and committee member of the Gavel, HWLS official newsletter from 2017-2019. He is also a freelance journalist at Stabroek News.
Chief Justice welcomed Devonish to the bar and urged him to commit to the hard work that success entails and to commit to conducting thorough research to serve his clients and the citizens of the nation.

While acknowledging Devonish’s dedication to the law, the CJ reflected on Former Chief Justice Ian Chang, who was laid to rest on the same day. She urged Devonish to aspire to the same legal height as Chang, who some labelled as a legal icon.
In addressing the court for the first time, Devonish thanked his mother, who as a single parent helped him to reach his goals.

Devonish explained while in the media he covered Parliament, press conferences and aspects of both law and politics. “What I realised was that I didn’t know enough to be able to do my job so I decided to enroll in the law programme and I thought that would assist me in doing my job.”

He explained that he intended to complete the three years which were required to get his LLB and go back into the media. However, in 2016, after meeting attorney-at-law Fraser, he was allowed to be an intern at his law firm. It was that opportunity that propelled Devonish to join the Legal fraternity.

“I want to be able to educate persons about the law pertinent to their everyday life such as landlord and tenant, land law; I want to be able to educate Guyana populace about laws which are important to them and I also want to be able to contribute to development of both local and regional jurisprudence, perhaps even international jurisprudence following in the footstep of Justice Duke Pollard”. He explained that he desires to practise constitutional law, administrative law, and human rights and environmental law but was still committed to the media.