She might only be 35, but don't let the new Senior Crown Counsel, Paula Tyndale's age fool you ? she's a legal eagle with guts.

Born in Manchester, Jamaica Ms Tyndale arrived in Bermuda two months ago and is currently assisting the Director of Public Prosecutors in training others to become qualified and take up senior posts on the Island.

Ms Tyndale said that, right from the start, it was obvious what she was going to do with her life.

"I was involved in debating at school and my family just encouraged me in this direction. It was a natural progression towards law I suppose," she said.

She grew up in a big family with five older brothers and two sisters and today has family in Jamaica, the United States and England. She also has a daughter, Riona, who started school at Elliott Primary this week.

After school, Ms Tyndale graduated from Law School at the University of the West Indies before completing her practitioner's programme in Barbados and a master's degree in England.

But she never slowed down and worked as a prosecutor in Jamaica for almost ten years before she applied for the position in Bermuda.

Despite the cultural differences, she said she was already feeling quite at home. She still hasn't had a chance to see the Island, but said she hoped to take a weekend for a thorough look-around.

"While I got into the work side of thing pretty quickly, I'm slowly getting used to the differences, so I'm adjusting and the people have been very friendly and helpful," she said.

Despite having spent time in cities like New York and London, Ms Tyndale admitted to being a small-town girl who preferred the rural settings to city life and said Hamilton and Bermuda suited her. She was looking forward to the next three years on the Island.

Although the Department of Immigration doesn't normally award work permits to single mothers coming to Bermuda to work, special consideration was made in Ms Tyndale's case.

The Director of Public Prosecutors, Vinette Graham-Allen said yesterday that it was up to the Minister's discretion to award work permits to single mothers as was the case with Ms Tyndale.