Justice Hugh Small, KC, would like to see a transformation in the way attorneys-in-the-making are treated, and rename the state of the studies for those enrolled in Norman Manley Law School as “Graduates-in-Law”.

Small made the call during his address at the Norman Manley Law School’s Dining and Mentorship Programme’s event on Saturday, February 21 at Mary Seacole Hall on the University of the West Indies, Mona campus.

“I’m going to suggest to you that the law school has 50 years behind it now, and it’s time for us to demand that we be given an appropriate status in the functions of this law school to take you as Graduates-in-Law through to practitioners-in-law, because mentoring translates fairly into practice. Think of your legal education as grammar [and] mentorship is the process of learning to write poetry,” Small said.

“Mentors are our translators. They can look at the same case that you just read and say, ‘That is the black letter law. That is the law in black and white’, but here’s how it plays out in practice,” in a negotiation…It bridges the gap between the classroom and the courtroom, between the lecture hall and the boardroom,” he said.

He noted that there are not enough mentors in Jamaica for the attorneys leaving the Norman Manley Law School.

He noted that there is a case of an attorney who faced disciplinary proceedings within three years of graduating from that institution, which mentorship could have changed.

“Attempting to go into practice without a guidingstar is suicide, so it is another thing that we need to consider. We don’t want any of our colleagues slip and fall early in their career. It has happened before, and there is a current case,” he said.

During his opening address, he thanked Principal Dr Christopher Malcolm and, by extension, the Norman Manley Law School for extending the invitation to him to present at the event.

For his part, Dr Malcolm said the event was something previously designed with the intention of this pilot ironing out things and making it a more formal, sustained dining initiative in the next academic year 2026/27, where they intend to have at least four presentations, two in each term, as the one done by Justice Small.

“What we’re doing here is something for this time, being delivered in a particular way. I’m here to say, however, that what we have here is a group of us gathered, practitioners, members of the bench and persons who are in the second year who will soon become members of the Bar, who will help us keep this as a sustained initiative going forward,” Malcolm said.

“What I’m particularly excited about is the extent to which the Bar and the bench have been prepared to support this initiative. We need your support, and we’re getting it,” he said.

For the lawyers in the room, he called on them to ensure that they are doing what they can to maintain the calibre and quality that they want to see. “Let us ensure that we are supportive of each other. Let us ensure that we give mentorship for our students. This is part of a bigger mentorship initiative. Let us go forward with mentorship. Let us go forward together. Let us go forward to raise the bar higher than it has ever been,” Dr Malcolm said.

More highlights from the event.