TT’s golden girl at the bar

The television crews have packed up and lawyers at the West Kingston Commission of Inquiry have long put away their documents as Ingrid Mangatal leads the way to her office at the Attorney General’s headquarters, not far from where the hearings are taking place.

It’s been another long day.

After three months representing the AG’s office at the inquiry into the July 7-10 battle between police forces and gunmen in West Kingston, Mangatal – the AG’s senior assistant attorney general and director of litigation – has become accustomed to the grind. Though just 37, she has seen quite a bit of action in legal circles, having been a practising attorney since 1987.

Of East Indian descent, Mangatal is a small woman with powerful arms. She is not as vocal as other lawyers at the commission and is equally tight-lipped on any matter relating to the case.

“There is a principle involved where that is concerned. I can be struck off the role as a member of the bar,” she said curtly.

Mangatal does admit that the commission “has been challenging and very interesting” and is quite different from her years in private practice and a stint as a Resident Magistrate.

“When you are in a law firm you have clients who you bill for work whereas in the Attorney General’s department you are acting on behalf of the government,” she explained.

“There are different challenges in each situation.”

Browsing over legal manuals is a far cry from the table tennis tournaments Mangatal dominated during the late 1970s and for much of the 1980s when she was consistently one of Jamaica’s top female players and many-time champion.

Before the legal bug bit her and she headed for Barbados to complete her studies at the University of the West Indies’ Cave Hill campus, Mangatal was known to argue her table tennis cases with a ferocious left hand.

She played for Jamaica at various levels over a nine-year period (1977-86) during which she was national champion several times and Caribbean Under-17 champion (for the English-speaking Caribbean) in 1978.

Mangatal dominated in an era when TT was a vibrant local sport; at various stages, she counted Anita Belnavis, Nadine Senn-Yuen, Sandra Riettie, Karen Small and later on, Sharon Becca and Sophia Virgo as her biggest competitors.

She had a banner year in 1980 when she swept the women’s titles (junior and senior, doubles, mixed doubles).

Ken McLachlan, a stalwart of the local game, remembers Mangatal as an “outstanding” player.

“She was better than good, not excellent,” McLachlan told All Woman. “She was attacking but she could also defend because she stood close to the board.”

Born in Kingston to a Trinidadian father and Jamaican mother who are both doctors, Mangatal’s career choices were mapped out from quite early. Her father taught her the basics of table tennis and she entered her first tournament at age 12, finishing runner-up in the Under-17 category.

Two years later while at Campion College, the first signs of the profession that would become her life came to the fore.

“I found I liked to argue a lot and I ended up doing a lot of debate-type things,” she recalled.

“It was at that point that I decided I wanted to do law.”

While still playing in tournaments, Mangatal’s legal ambitions got a major boost in 1982 when she was awarded the Grace, Kennedy Scholarship to study law. She was called to the bar in 1987 and started her legal career that year with Perkins, Tomlinson, Grant, Stewart and Co (now Grant, Stewart, Phillips and Co) where she stayed for three years.

Prior to working at the AG’s office, Mangatal was an associate at Dunn, Cox and Orrett and a partner at Dunn, Cox, Orrett and Ashenheim (now Dunn, Cox) where she worked for 10 years.

In April, she started working for the Attorney General.

Mangatal believes the Jamaican legal climate has become more receptive to women since she entered.

“I know our forerunners found it difficult but I can’t say it’s difficult for women,” she said. “We’ve come to a stage where we dominate the profession.”

A lot has also changed in local table tennis since she left the sport 15 years ago. There is not as much talent and the tournaments have declined significantly.

Though admitting to being a bit “rusty”, Mangatal has plans to take up her racquet in the near future for recreational purposes.

At present, however, she spends her time doing a bit of coaching. Her students: her daughters, eight and five years old.