PROFESSOR Justice (Ret’d) Courtney A. Abel, Head of the Department of Law at the University of Guyana (UG), has received another major regional honour, earning the 2026 Organisation of Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Associations (OCCBA) Award for Distinguished Service to the Legal Profession and the Judiciary.
The award, which recognises Professor Abel’s significant contribution to the legal profession and judicial development across the Commonwealth Caribbean, was presented virtually during the OCCBA Retreat on July 25, following his selection by the organisation’s 16-member bar associations and its Executive Council.
The latest recognition comes months after Professor Abel received the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Caribbean Lawyers (SOCAL), giving the distinguished legal scholar two major regional honours in 2026.
The OCCBA award recognises his contributions to the legal profession throughout the Commonwealth Caribbean, particularly his service to the Judiciary of Belize and his work with regional legal organisations, including OCCBA and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Bar Association.
Professor Abel, a Professor of Law (Legal Practice) in the Faculty of Social Sciences at UG, said the recognition was particularly meaningful because it came from the organised legal profession of the Commonwealth Caribbean.
“Receiving the OCCBA Award was deeply moving because it came from what I regard as my professional family: the organised Bars of the Commonwealth Caribbean,” he said.
Throughout his career, Professor Abel has been involved in efforts to strengthen bar associations, safeguard the independence of the legal profession and judiciary, support regional institutions and promote a stronger collective voice for Caribbean lawyers.
Reflecting on those efforts, he described them as part of a broader movement towards greater Caribbean self-determination and “Caribbean self-authorship”.
Professor Abel’s legal career has spanned private practice, judicial service, regional Bar leadership and academia.
He previously served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Belize and has held leadership positions in several regional legal organisations, including the OECS Bar Association and the Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Association.
Those experiences, he said, have shaped his understanding of the relationship between the law and the societies in which it operates.
“The most important lesson is that law cannot properly be understood apart from the society whose life it orders,” Professor Abel said.
He noted that his years in legal practice demonstrated the direct impact of the law on people’s lives, while his judicial service reinforced the importance of humility and responsibility in exercising judicial authority.
At the University of Guyana, Professor Abel has brought that broad professional experience into the classroom, where he is helping to prepare a new generation of legal professionals.
He said his approach to legal education extends beyond teaching students the rules and principles of law.
“I want students to understand who they are, the society in which those rules operate, the histories which produced them, and the responsibility they inherit for improving them,” he said.
Professor Abel believes legal education should help develop “thoughtful, ethical, critical and imaginative lawyers” capable of contributing meaningfully to the future development of Caribbean law.
The OCCBA recognition came shortly before he assumed the position of Head of the Department of Law at UG, adding another chapter to his continuing contribution to legal education and the legal profession.
Despite receiving two major regional honours this year, Professor Abel said he does not regard the awards as the culmination of his professional journey.
Instead, he sees them as reinforcing his responsibility to continue serving and contributing to those who will follow.
“An award should not become a chair in which one sits. At its best, it becomes another place from which one is called to serve,” he said.
For the veteran legal scholar, the greatest satisfaction lies not in the recognition itself, but in the contribution made to the profession and future generations.
“The greatest reward is not recognition. It is the quiet knowledge that one tried to leave the road a little clearer for those who must travel it next,” Professor Abel said.
The University of Guyana congratulated Professor Justice (Ret’d) Courtney A. Abel on the latest achievement, recognising his continued contribution to law, justice and legal education in Guyana and across the wider Commonwealth Caribbean.