A BORN Lindener, Mr. Eon Ryan Smith, now resident in the United States (U.S.), was yesterday admitted to the Guyana Bar by Justice Winston Patterson, in the Berbice High Court.

Justice Winston Patterson congratulates Mr. Eon Ryan Smith, after admitting him to the Guyana Bar in the Berbice High Court.

Smith was a former Assistant District Attorney in the State of New York, where he was, initially, admitted to practice in the Eastern and Southern districts.

He, however, returned to the Caribbean, where, after successfully completing the six months transitional programme at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Hugh Wooding Law School, he secured admission to the Bar in Trinidad and Tobago.

His close association with Mr. Ryan Crawford, the attorney-at-law son of Senior Counsel Marcel Crawford, caused Smith to get the opportunity for induction in the ‘Ancient County’.

Now the trio will combine their expertise, with Smith specialising in the area of international extradition while the Crawfords will be offering services both in Guyana and New York and Federal Courts in the U.S.

Presenting the petition for Smith, attorney-at-law Mr. Mursalene Bacchus mentioned that the former was born in Linden on December 26, 1973, to Virginia Joseph and Vincent Smith.

He migrated to the U.S. in 1985 and graduated from John’s University in 2000 and John’s University School of Law in 2003.

During his second year at law school, Bacchus said Smith was offered a position in the New York County, Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and, upon graduation, he accepted the position of Assistant District Attorney.

On leaving that job, he joined the law firm Belluck and Fox, as an associate and trial counsel and, subsequently, started his own law firm, Smith and Company, practising family law, prior to enrolling at Hugh Wooding in Trinidad in 2008.

Smith was licensed to practice in the Commonwealth Caribbean last April, Bacchus said.

Justice Patterson, admitting Smith, noted that he is a seasoned practitioner but warned him against seeking popularity.

Instead he should give advice in order to advance the practices of the profession, the judge told Smith, who expressed profound gratitude to Bacchus for introducing him and to Senior Counsel Crawford for his guidance on the laws of Guyana.