A teacher-turned-lawyer said she hoped to make the same kind of difference to people’s lives in her new career.

Sharon Rampersad-Ible was speaking as she was Called to the Bar on Friday before Chief Justice Ian Kawaley.

Ms Rampersad-Ible, who taught English language and literature at CedarBridge Academy and Berkeley Institute from 2001 to 2009, said: “For me it is about seeing justice done and seeing it done in a timely fashion while making the layman as comfortable as possible with what can be a daunting experience.

“I would like to specialise in corporate law and I am interested in civil and commercial as well.”

Ms Rampersad-Ible, born and brought up in Trinidad, was a teacher in the 1990s in her home country and came to Bermuda in 2001.

She later studied law at Bermuda College and completed her degree at the University of Kent in England.

She graduated in 2011 and worked at Harshaw and Co, the former firm of lawyer Paul Harshaw, who is now with Canterbury Law.

Ms Rampersad-Ible completed a post graduate diploma in legal studies at the College of Law on London before gaining practical experience in Trinidad in 2016. Mr Kawaley said he was married to a Trinidadian and joked it would have been nice to hear the soca song Trini to the Bone as Ms Rampersad-Ible celebrated her success. Mr Kawaley said: “You are a valuable addition and I have no doubt you will blaze a legal trail and brighten the Bermuda legal scene.”

Ms Rampersad-Ible said her parents told her when she was growing up that education was the passport to life.

She added: “There are two sets of people I am grateful for. My husband — this started with his blessing and I am eternally grateful for his constant support. Also my parents who couldn’t be here.

She added: “I promise to uphold everything this robe represents.”