The Tribune

A RISING young Bahamian barrister has been recognised by Lord Neuberger, who heads the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and is President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

Barry N Griffin, 27, a junior barrister called to the Utter Bar of England and Wales, received a rare personal invitation from Lord Neuberger to congratulate him on his success as a law student and to thank him for his contribution to the legal community in the UK.

Mr Griffin was an outstanding law student at King’s College, University of London, one of the UK’s oldest and most prestigious law schools. During his time at King’s, Mr Griffin was elected President of the Law Society and Editor of the ‘King’s Law Review’. He would have been one of only a handful of ethnic minorities to ever hold either post at the university, let alone to hold both concurrently.

As President of the Law Society in 2011, Mr Griffin had the privilege of inviting the keynote speaker to the law school’s annual black tie gala that brings together students with notable alumni and members of the legal fraternity. He invited Lord Neuberger, who was then Master of the Rolls, the second most senior judge in England and Wales. “As a first year law student, Lord Neuberger’s judgments captivated me and his legal reasoning piqued my intellectual curiosity,” Mr Griffin said. “I wanted to meet the man behind the judgments.”

At the dinner, the two connected over their unlikely paths to the Bar. Lord Neuberger is Jewish and became a barrister at a time when Jews were all but shut out from work at the Bar. Mr Griffin said that he is the first person in his family to study law and that it was a bit unnerving to always being the only black face in classes or legal networking events and not knowing anyone in the legal profession.

“It was refreshing speaking to Lord Neuberger and learning of the struggles in his early career. It really encouraged me to look past the things I couldn’t control and to work my hardest to perform at the highest levels,” he said.

Mr Griffin performed so well in law school that he was recognised during the Queen’s diamond jubilee celebrations as a top law student and had the honour of ‘mooting’ before the Queen. Mooting is an oral presentation of a legal issue or problem against an opposing counsel and before a judge, perhaps the closest experience that a student can have whilst at university to appearing in court.

Upon completion of his legal studies in 2013, Mr Griffin worked with Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Services, where he promoted the undertaking of pro bono work by lawyers and law students to assist people who otherwise could not afford to pay for legal representation. Attached to the employment tribunal and residential property tribunal, during this tenure he assisted hundreds of employees and tenants in the UK in actions against large companies and well-funded landlords. “I truly believe in using the law as a force for good. It was extremely rewarding to use my legal education to help others,” he added.

When Mr Griffin received the invitation from Lord Neuberger, who is now the President of the Supreme Court and Head of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, he said he was shocked and excited. “It goes to show that you never know who is watching you and that it pays to do your very best in all that you do,” he said. “Law school and the work I’ve done thus far has been extremely rewarding, but every day wasn’t a glamorous moot before the Queen. There were many hours of reading and studying. There were failures and disappointments and days when I had to push through when I didn’t feel like doing any work at all. But that fire in my belly was burning.

“Success was the only option; so I did what I had to do. It’s incredibly humbling to know that the top judge in the English speaking world was watching my journey this entire time and that he has sought to personally congratulate me and wish me well as I move on to another chapter in my career.”

Mr Griffin, who is now based in London, plans to return to the Bahamas to practice law and he is scheduled to be called to the Bahamas Bar on October 29. “I have an unbelievable desire to come home and to give back to my country,” he said. Already he is volunteering to help hurricane relief operations in Andros, from where his father, Barry Griffin Sr, hails. His father and mother, Marie, live in Nassau.

Mr Griffin was educated at St Thomas More Primary School and was graduated from St Augustine’s College in 2005 before going to St John’s University in Minnesota.