Samuel Martin followed in his family’s footsteps when he became the latest member of the Bermuda Bar last week.

Mr Martin was moved by his father, Andrew Martin, and seconded by his uncle Peter Martin — both directors of local law firm MJM Limited.

Speaking yesterday, the new lawyer said he was thrilled to be able to have his father on hand to witness his achievement.

“He was proud when I qualified in the UK,” he said. “Then I started talking about eventually wanting to come back home — that is my long-term plan.

“I thought it would be a very special thing to have someone I admired and looked up to for a long time call me to the Bar, and I would be able to call him learnt friend as well as my dad.”

The former Warwick Academy and Bermuda High School student originally went to the University of Swansea in Wales to study mechanical engineering, but while there he turned his attention to the law.

“I wasn’t enjoying the course I was doing at the time, so I decided to look elsewhere and to give law a go,” he said. “I really enjoyed it, and I wasn’t too bad at it.

“I think it was more of a shock to my dad because I always said I didn’t want to be a lawyer.”

Mr Martin later earned his postgraduate diploma in professional legal practice at the Univesity of Law in Guildford, Surrey, before undertaking his training contract at Cheyney Golding LLP in Guildford.

He was admitted into the Law Society as a solicitor in the senior courts of England and Wales in February, and is now a junior in-house counsel at a media distribution company in London.

Asked about his Call to the Bar, he said: “It was really special. The proudest day of my life so far.”