Reformed drug addict called to the bar as Cayman’s newest attorney

Leaning on a rake at Barker’s Beach after a day clearing leaves with a seasonal crew on government’s NICE programme, Kattina Anglin reflected on her struggle for a second chance in life.

“Cayman is so small. It is hard to make a new start, but that is what I am trying to do,” she told the Cayman Compass at the time.

She’d been homeless, jobless, hopelessly addicted to drugs and alcohol and her son was serving a life sentence for murder.

The future didn’t look bright.

That was Christmas 2015.

Now, little over seven years later, Anglin, 51, can add a new title to the many names she has been called in the course of a tumultuous life: Attorney-at-law.

She was called to the bar Monday, completing a miraculous transformation to achieve a dream she had held since she was 15.

“I think I appreciate it more having done it the hard way,” said Anglin, after donning the wig and gown to accept the official credentials that will enable her to argue cases before the court in the Cayman Islands.

“I think if I had gone and done it from when I was 15 it wouldn’t have meant as much to me. After everything I have been through, this success is even sweeter.”

When new lawyers are called to the bar, it is traditional to give a vote of thanks. 

For Anglin, there were almost too many people to mention.

Her cousins, who stood by her through her struggles; her brother Ronnie, who she described as her advisor and confidante; and her mother Aldine, who she said had never given up on her, all got a mention

Her son Devon, Anglin said, had been her biggest cheerleader in life and someone who had felt, more than anyone else, the consequences of her actions.

“He had the hardest journey of all, because he grew up dealing with the repercussions of having a drug-addicted mother.”

She added, “The people I owe the most are the people whose love for me exceeded my drug addiction problems.”

Christian values

Anglin says she made a decision to change in 2015 and put her life in God’s hands. “And I’ve been unstoppable ever since; with God all things are possible”, she said. 

She gave tribute to God and to her church family on Monday adding that Christian principles would guide her in her legal career.

“I pledge to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, and plead for the widow,” she said, reading form Isaiah 1:17.

Anglin sees a niche for herself in Cayman’s extensive legal ecosystem, helping to mediate disputes between families and resolve conflict in her West Bay neighbourhood. “They know I understand who they are and where they are coming from.”

Longer term, she has a strong interest in constitutional law. She’s been involved, already, in legal movements around civil partnerships and more recently COVID vaccine mandates.

And she would like to see more of those type of challenges. Constitutions are meant to be tested and challenged and interpreted, she said, in order to evolve and become meaningful legal frameworks.

She would like to see Caymanians get greater education around their rights and have easier access to justice. Bringing judicial reviews or Bill of Rights challenges should not depend on private citizens gambling their own finances in the hope of having a government violation remedied, she believes.

For now, she’s not in a position to change that. But Anglin, having achieved one dream, is already targeting bigger things.

“My next goal is to be Attorney General of the Cayman Islands,” she added.