The Department of Public Prosecutions has had its ranks bolstered after a former summer student was Called to the Bar yesterday.

Matthew Frick, 27, who also spent five years as an officer in the Bermuda Police Service, will work as a Crown Counsel in the department.

Cindy Clarke, the Director of Public Prosecutions, who was also Mr Frick’s pupil master, said that the island’s newest lawyer had demonstrated a talent for research while working at the department.

Ms Clarke told Puisne Judge Larry Mussenden: “I have worked with Mr Frick for quite a few years in varying different capacities. He was the office student initially and then taken on through the Covid period as a consultant.

“He very quickly became the resident computer expert. Mr Frick works on every case in some capacity — he has a particular skill in research.”

Another senior prosecutor, Alan Richards, also spoke in Mr Frick’s favour.

Mr Richards said: “He has haunted the Department of Public Prosecutions for some considerable time now. It feels a little strange to be welcoming him to the Bar today when we have known him in the office for several years.

“I have enjoyed working with Mr Frick on a regular basis. He and I share a number of things in common, which I think has brought us close in our work together in the department. One of those things is coffee — something that we share most mornings — and it descends into the level where the beans have come from and how long they’ve been roasted for.

“Another thing we have in common is computers. We both like playing with computers a lot and I have noted that there are certain things that Mr Frick is able to do with a computer that I cannot, which is a source of some embarrassment on my part, but we’re very lucky to have him to assist us with our IT.”

Noting that it was a tradition when getting called for new members to thank those who had helped them to launch a legal career, Mr Frick, who attended Warwick Academy and Dalhousie University in Canada, said: “The reality is that there are so many people who have helped me get to where I am today.

“If I was to thank every single person in my speech, I’m afraid that defence counsels present may end up seeking costs from the department.

“I would like to thank my family and my parents, who have supported me at every stage of my life. Their love and acceptance of me is probably the biggest factor of why I’m here today.

“I know that they are very proud of me, and they are very proud of me no matter what I do.”

Thanking his former colleagues in the Bermuda Police Service, Mr Frick said: “I left high school with not the best academic record and in fact I had little purpose in what I was going to do next. All I knew is that I was going to go into the police and they were going to pay for my education.

“I always dreamt of being a lawyer but never thought I was smart enough or confident enough to be one. With my time at the police that turned a soft, private-schooled White boy into a, well, a more confident soft, private-schooled White boy.”

Mr Frick also thanked Mr Mussenden for allowing him to attend the Department of Public Prosecutions as a summer student. The judge was the director of the department when Mr Frick was first taken on.

He said: “I would like to thank Mr Mussenden for taking a chance on me and hiring me as a student. I’m very happy and honoured that you are able to be my judge for my Call to the Bar four years after you first hired me as a student.

“Since then I haven’t left the Department of Public Prosecutions. I returned every summer and became a regular in the courts, following around the lawyers, asking dumb questions and falling in love with the legal profession.

“I would like to thank everyone in the department for putting up with me for so many years. I’m not sure what it says about me to continually return to the department every summer for my yearly dose of stress. Indeed, it was often easier to return to law school than some weeks in those summers.”

Paying tribute to Ms Clarke, Mr Frick said that the director had taught him that, although there aren’t always right answers, there are definitely wrong ones.

He said: “I always knew I was in trouble when I was making some point in law and she would go quiet, wait for me to stop speaking, then ask the dreaded question, ‘Why do you think that?’

“Ms Clarke has, on every opportunity, made time for me, her door is always open for me and she would always make time for me. For that I am eternally grateful to her. If I am to become a successful lawyer, she has every right to take full credit for it.”