Kanika Green, who was called to the Bar of the Cayman Islands last week, brings years of experience that Justice Richard Williams predicted will stand her in good stead.
Noting her employment and then articles with various legal firms, he said Mrs. Green might find that work more useful than a strictly academic background.
She began working in Cayman as secretary and paralegal at the firm of Appleby Spurling Hunter from August 2003 until January 2005.
She then worked at the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority from January 2005 until December 2006 as executive secretary to the board. After serving as office manager for Horizon 21 Finance, she joined Maples and Calder as a corporate assistant and paralegal corporate until May 2009. Mrs. Green then was employed as managing director for Intertrust (Cayman) Ltd. until July, 2011.
From 2003, she was not only working but also studying law online through the University of Wolverhampton Law School.
In presenting the application for her admission, attorney Waide DaCosta reported that Mrs. Green graduated with a bachelor of laws degree with honors on July 12, 2007. She then attended the Cayman Islands [now Truman Bodden] Law School to complete her Legal Professional Practice Course.
She began her articles of clerkship with the law firm of Samson and McGrath and then transferred to Mr. DaCosta. During this period of her articleship, she went on secondment to Conyers, Dill and Pearman for four months to gain experience in areas of law not generally provided by Mr. DaCosta’s firm.
“Her journey to become a member of the Bar has been somewhat long, but she has not tired in her pursuit of this goal,” he said.
At her Sept. 12 Bar call, Mrs. Green thanked her mentors, including the partners and staff of Maples and Calder for sponsoring her for the professional practice course. She singled out Deborah Barker, Mitchell Davies and Andrew Woodcock from the law school for the great job they do.
She thanked attorneys David McGrath and Rick Finlay for offering a place in their training programs. She described Mr. DaCosta as an excellent friend, teacher, mentor and a great inspiration, showing her the value of honesty, sincerity and integrity.
Acknowledging all of her mentors, she said, “I really look forward to the day when I can do the same for someone else.”
Citing the support of family, she thanked her husband Mark, “for being smart enough to agree with me on most political issues, disagreeing just enough to make me think things through and clarify my points.”
Mrs. Green paid special tribute to the nobility and heroism of her mother, Usha Kathpalia, who traveled from Canada to attend the ceremony. She said her parents had allowed her to dream, but had also taught her that a person must do more than average to succeed in whatever you pursue in life.
“Thank you for letting me believe that I could be whoever I wanted to be, do whatever I wanted to do, there were no limitations except my drive, ambition and creativity,” she told her mother.
Mrs. Green said she understood the responsibility that comes with her call to the Bar: “I promise to truly and honestly conduct myself as an attorney of this honorable court to the highest standard possible.”
Justice Williams called her maiden speech heartfelt and well-presented. He noted her family work as part of her articles and hoped to see her in that division of the court system.
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