Dame Joan Augusta Sawyer, DBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

, PC (b. November 26, 1940, George Town, Exuma

Exuma

Exuma is a district of the Bahamas, consisting of over 360 islands . The largest of the cays is Great Exuma, which is 37 mi in length and joined to another island, Little Exuma by a small bridge. The capital and largest city in the district is George Town , founded 1793 and located on Great...

, Bahamas) was President of the Bahamas Court of Appeal from September 5, 2001. Formerly Chief Justice of the Commonwealth of the Bahama islands from October 26, 1996 to September 4, 2001, Sawyer was the first woman to ever serve as Chief Justice and President of the Court of Appeal of The Bahamas

The Bahamas

The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...

. Sawyer retired from the Court of Appeal in 2010.

Education

Sawyer received her early education at the George Town Public School, Government High School, Aquinas College and the Government High School Evening Institute. In 1970, aged 29, she began law school, matriculating from the University of London

University of London

-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

.

Career

As a member of the Honourable Society of Gray's Inn she was called to the English Bar on July 19, 1973 and to the Bahamas Bar two months later.

Background

Sawyer's career history began in 1958 as a clerk-trainee at what is now the Ministry of Public Works.

Family

Joan Sawyer was married to the late Geoffrey Sawyer; they had one son, Samuel Anthony Sawyer.

External links

• http://unjobs.org/authors/joan-sawyer
• http://www.indianjurists.org/Judges.html