Twenty of the most powerful black women lawyers from Florida, United States, travelled to Jamaica over the Labour Day weekend for their inaugural Continuing Legal Education (CLE) abroad programme.

The group includes attorney Sia Baker-Barnes who is set to shatter legal traditions next year and become the first black woman president of the Florida Bar, a feat many thought previously improbable.

With them also is Jamaican-American Alison Smith, the immediate past president of the Broward County Bar Association (BCBA), who herself made history by becoming the first black woman elected to that position.

Smith, who hails from St Elizabeth, was recently elected to the Florida Bar Board of Governors and has her sights set on eventually becoming the first Jamaican president of the Florida Bar.

The women lawyers are here under the auspices of the Sheree Davis Cunningham Black Women Lawyers Association (SDCBWLA), founded in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2021, having chosen Jamaica for the CLE courses that American attorneys are required to take.

The group visited the Supreme Court in Kingston, as well as the Court of Appeal, and heard presentations from notable attorneys, including the president of the Court of Appeal, Patrick Brooks.

“We learned with interest about the inner workings of the legal system in Jamaica and studied differences between the practice of law in Jamaica versus the US, as well as how to become licensed to practice law in Jamaica,” Smith told the Jamaica Observer on Sunday.

“We also toured various parts of the island, taking in the food, music and culture, and ended the trip in Kempshot, an eco-tourist’s oasis, just outside of bustling Montego Bay, where we could see more of Jamaica’s natural and unspoiled beauty,” Smith gushed.

The group, which included several women with Jamaican ancestry, described the overall trip as highly successful. Some saw it as “informative, exciting and energising” and promised to be back in the near future, with more lawyers, “to continue the conversation and create synergy with their Jamaican legal counterparts”.

The Palm Beach County Sheree Davis Cunningham Black Women Lawyers Association was founded after it was recognised that the unique and specific needs of black female lawyers are often overlooked.

According to the American Bar Association (ABA), only five per cent of lawyers in the United States are black, and there are no studies that determine the number of black women who practise law in the US and/or Florida.

It was named after Judge Sheree Davis Cunningham, the first African American woman to be seated as a judge in Florida’s 15th Judicial Circuit in 1993, as to pay homage to her inspirational leadership, vision and exemplary career. She retired after 26 years of excellent service, the association said.

Members of the SDCBWLA with president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Patrick Brooks (second left in front). contributed

From left: Destinie Baker-Sutton, president of the SDCBWLA; Immediate past president of the Broward County Bar Association Alison Smith; and Sis Baker-Barnes, president elect-designate of the Florida Bar.

Retired Judge Sheree Davis Cunningham

Members of the SDCBWLA outside the Court of Appeal