JAMAICA’S legal community was thrown into mourning on Sunday as news spread that veteran attorney-at-law Dorothy Pine-McLarty had died.

Pine-McLarty served as a practising attorney-at-law for more than 50 years before retiring from partnership of Myers, Fletcher & Gordon.

She served as the head of that firm’s Property Department from 1992 to 1995 and was managing partner of the firm’s London office from its inception in 1995 until June 1998.

She was also admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in 1995.

In a tribute posted on social media Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness said, “Pine-McLarty dedicated her life to strengthening our democracy, upholding integrity, and serving the Jamaican people with courage and grace. She was a truly exceptional attorney.”

Holness noted that in 1973 Pine-McLarty became the first woman partner of Myers, Fletcher & Gordon and later became the first woman to chair the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ), “and a public servant in the truest sense”.

Pine-McLarty joined the ECJ, (then Electoral Advisory Committee) in December 2000 as a selected commissioner. In 2013 she was appointed chairman of the ECJ, serving in that capacity until her retirement on December 31, 2019.

During her tenure, Pine-McLarty was instrumental in the successful oversight of four Parliamentary elections, four local government elections, and numerous by-elections; a residence reverification project; the implementation of the Electronic Voter Identification System in selected polling stations; and the framing of political parties registration and election campaign financing regulations.

“I extend deepest condolence to her family, friends, colleagues, and all Jamaicans whose lives were touched by her service,” added Holness.

Dorothy Pine-McLarty served for years as a member of the board of the Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) and with the launch of JN Bank and the restructuring of the building society she was appointed to the boards of The Jamaica National Group and the JN Financial Group.

Pine-McLarty, who was born in 1940, was vested into the Order of Jamaica in October 2007 for outstanding public service.