First female Chief Justice for OECS
CASTRIES, St. Lucia, Oct 19, CMC – Justice Janice Pereira has been appointed Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.
Justice Pereira, the first woman to be appointed to the post, replaces Justice Hugh Anthony Rawlins, who retired on July 31, this year, citing personal reasons for his decision to demit office after five years in the position and an overall 12 years as a judge.
The University of the West Indies (UWI) graduate joined the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court as a High Court judge in 2003 and later as a judge with the Court of Appeal.
The British Virgin Islands national earlier this week received notice of her appointment as Chief Justice from the Office of the Lord High Chancellor in the United Kingdom Chris Grayling. Last month she received letters patent issued by Queen Elizabeth conferring the appointment.
Chief Justice Pereira, who is married with two children, was first called to the bar in her native island in 1981 after graduating from the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica.