Being Called to the Bermuda Bar is Tina Herrero’s biggest achievement.

The Bermudian barrister and attorney with a background in human rights law said she planned to use her skills to benefit Bermuda’s community.

Ms Herrero said: “I haven’t taken the quickest path to get here. I’ve been off the island working and studying for the last ten years.

“But home is always home, so for the last year and a half I worked hard to pass the qualified lawyers transfer scheme so that I could be admitted here in Bermuda.”

She added that the milestone “feels like more of an achievement” than being called in the United States and is her “biggest accomplishment”.

She said: “I was admitted in Texas but something about the amount of studying it took me to get here and also how important Bermuda is to me makes this just feel huge.

“I remember the day I decided to take on the challenge of moving home and getting called to the Bermuda Bar and then the next morning the relief of knowing I was finally on the path I was meant to be on.”

Ms Herrero, 29, was surrounded by family, friends and her Canterbury Law colleagues Juliana Snelling and Paul Harshaw during a small ceremony at Supreme Court last Friday. Ms Snelling, who has worked with Ms Herrero since June, told the court she was “dead impressed with the quality of her work and her excellent work ethic”.

She said: “We’ve got to know her over the last couple of months and she has a beautiful soul in all respects — in her work, in her personal feeling and her obvious compassion for mankind.”

She added that Ms Herrero’s desire to represent underprivileged people and to make an impact on the community were the deciding factors in her choice of career.

Ms Snelling, who outlined Ms Herrero’s academic and work achievements, added: “We are so excited to have her as part of our Canterbury family.”

She also highlighted Ms Herrero’s volunteer work with Summerhaven, the Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights and two semesters spent representing children in the Texas foster care system.

Ms Snelling added that Ms Herrero worked at the non-profit organisation Disability Rights Texas in the area of civil rights and mental health law before moving back to Bermuda.

Appleby attorney Monika Adams, who has known Ms Herrero for 13 years, spoke of her “excellent level of integrity and heart that she will bring back to Bermuda”.

Ms Adams said: “She has always been the individual that would give a helping hand.

“As soon as I heard about Ms Herrero returning to the island, I knew the world of benefits was really more for Bermuda than for her in her return.”

Chief Justice Ian Kawaley described Ms Herrero’s background as “quite unusual and impressive”.

He said: “Unusual because there aren’t many people, if anybody, who has qualified via the route you’ve qualified by.”

Ms Herrero graduated from Brown University in Rhode Island with a bachelor of arts degree in literatures and cultures in English in 2010.

She completed her doctorate in law at the University of Texas School of Law in 2013 and was admitted to the Texas Bar in November that year.

But Mr Kawaley added: “What is most impressive is your specialisation in what might broadly be described as the human rights area.”

Mr Kawaley said he looked forward to watching “the valuable contribution” she will make.

Ms Herrero will be working with Ms Snelling, who specialises in employment law, and Mr Harshaw, who focuses on civil litigation.

She said: “There’s traditionally a lot of overlap between employment law and human rights work. Already with Juliana I’ve seen that there is a large number of discrimination claims.”

Ms Herrero added: “I’m excited and looking forward to being back in Bermuda, being in the Bermuda community and especially to learn new areas of law from Paul and Juliana and also somehow use my experience in civil rights and mental health law to benefit the Bermuda community.”