A "bright and shining'' example to young people was called to the bar last week, as more than 100 people jammed a courtroom to look on.

Graham Simmons Jr. thanked his father saying: "Without my father's instruction there would be no cause for celebration and reflection today. May he forever bask in the reflected glory of this occasion.

"The Bible counsels that the instruction of a father and the law of a mother shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck,'' he continued.

Mr. Simmons further thanked his father for reminding him of the "courage, honour, hope, pride, compassion and sacrifice'' that has been the elder man's life.

Special words of praise were heaped on Mr. Simmons' late mother Sharlene, who died eight years ago.

"To my mother,'' he said, "I honour the place in you of light, love, truth, peace and wisdom. I honour that place in you where, when you are in that place and I am in that place, there is only one of us.'' Puisne Judge Vincent Meerabux, who presided over the call, noted Mr. Simmons had a "Catholic'' education, having studied at the University of Western Ontario and at the London School of Economics.

Mr. Simmons passed the New York bar exam, and after studying at the Norman Manley School of Law in Jamaica, was Called to the Bar in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

"Persons have said of the London School that things are taught there that are blasphemous,'' Mr. Justice Meerabux said. "I trust that your association with that institution of higher learning is not held against you.

"Bertrand Russell wrote that every great idea starts as a blasphemy,'' he added.

Lawyer Marc Telemaque welcomed his Berkeley Institute classmate, calling it a "privilege and a pleasure'' to do so.

He added: "I am now proud that I can now refer to my old friend as my learned friend. I take great delight in welcoming a fellow Berkeleyite to the Bar.'' Mr. Simmons received an Appleby Spurling and Kempe scholarship to aid his legal education.

He thanked the selection committee and hoped they did not hold it against him that he "held them at gunpoint'' during the interview process.

With Mr. Simmons now working at AS&K as a corporate lawyer, Mr. Telemaque challenged him to abandon that area of the law and join him "in the salt mines'' of criminal work.

AS&K lawyer Peter Bubenzer welcomed Mr. Simmons on behalf of the company saying he had shown a "serious commitment to the welfare of the community and its people'' and the company was proud of him.

Graham Simmons