Retired educator Jacqueline Adams becomes a lawyer: 'I knew I could do it!'

“If you want to do something, just do it. It does not matter where you come from: your dreams are important. It is also very important to imagine your best self and show up as that person.”

That was the advice of Jacqueline Adams, who was admitted to the bar on July 23 at the age of 70.

“It was a very exciting day for me. I didn’t feel the excitement before, but on the day I felt very thankful to God, very thankful to my family, thankful to the lawyer who helped me through my legal internship. It was just a lovely day and a lovely feeling – a feeling of thankfulness.”

Another exciting day for her was July 26 when she went to the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain to sign the oath book and receive her practising certificate.

Adams's dream began in 2008 when she had a case in court.

“I was before the magistrate, Nalini Singh. And just looking at her and how she conducted her business, I said to myself, ‘But Jacqui, you should be up there!’

"At the same time my daughter, Vonetta, was in law school. The combination of those two things started a fire within me and I decided to go for it after I retired.”

Born on Quarry Street in Port of Spain, Adams grew up in Barataria and later moved to Trincity, where she now lives.

The second of eight children in the Felice family, she knew she wanted to be a teacher from the age of five. Both her parents were teachers and they would come home and tell their children stories about their classes and students. And when their children grew older, they allowed them to help them correct their students' schoolwork.

“I just felt it in my spirit. There’s nothing that said to me, ‘You will be a teacher because...’ It’s just something I knew that I had to do and I just loved it from the get-go.”

Knowing what she wanted, she did not do A-Levels after attending St Joseph’s Convent, Port of Spain. Instead, she went straight into teaching from the age of 17 at Tunapuna Girls' RC School.

Although she already had the job, she attended teachers training college in order to improve her skills. She then went on to do three years of guidance and counselling, as well as a BSc in educational services from Andrews University, Michigan at the University of the Southern Caribbean.

She was eventually promoted to vice principal, then principal of Malabar RC School in Arima, and, retired as a school supervisor in 2010 before becoming a student once again.

Adams had no hesitancy returning to school as a student at 60, but kept the decision to herself. She advised people to do the same so they do not have to hear negativity from others.

“In my case, I had to keep it under wraps because I expected people to say, ‘What you doing? Stay home and relax yourself. See about your grandchildren. Go and plant garden. Go and help in the church. What you going and harass your brain for? You too old. You’re going to be in a class with people in their 20s, 30s and 40s. You go feel shame.’

"These negative things have an impact on you. So you tell your family and the people who will rally toward you and say, ‘You go for it!’”

She did her bachelor of laws (LLB) at the Academy of Tertiary Studies in Curepe and graduated with honours.

As she studied for her classes, there were times she cried because she did not feel she was retaining much information. She also missed out on a lot of sleep, events and activities while she was studying.

But she never felt discouraged or wanted to give up, because she knew what she wanted and she had the support of her family.

“Nothing worth having is gotten easily. But I also believe in enjoying life as I go along.”

So she took several breaks to enjoy herself, including two cruises with her husband, Theo Adams, and friends.

For several years she tried to get admitted to the Hugh Wooding Law School in St Augustine, but was unsuccessful.

“I almost gave up, but my daughter and my husband were my encouragers. I used to say, ‘I am not crossing that ocean (to attend school overseas). I am not going!’

"Until one day I just decided I needed to go because I have a calling to do inspirational speaking to people, and I felt that I would have a base to stand on as an attorney-at-law.”

During her career in education she used to speak to and encourage her students. She said she wanted the same things for her students and teachers that she wanted for her family, so she did the best she could with regard to them.

In October 2019, she went to London, where she attended physical classes for two weeks before returning to TT to attend school online. A year later, she got her legal practising certificate from Staffordshire University, England.

She was even more excited when the university administration asked her to give a motivational talk to the new students beginning in October 2020, via an audio recording. She also uploaded two articles on Facebook and LinkedIn – Live Your Life And Forget Your Age, and It Could Have Been You.

“I am open to speaking at parent-teacher meetings and graduations on the importance of doing your will regardless. And if I was not a lawyer, I would not feel competent enough to do that or to be heard by anybody.”

She would also like to speak to new form four students. She recalled when she attended secondary school, she spent her time playing and enjoying herself rather than expending her energy on her studies.

“It was only when I went to form four that it came to me in a very solid way that the world is out there. I was going to leave school very soon, I wanted to be a teacher, and I needed my certificate. It was only then that I started to work.”

Adams has three children, Vonetta, Nigel, and Michelle, and three grandchildren.

She works with Vonetta at her law office in Tunapuna, and is happy to be spending time with her daughter as well as learning more about family and industrial relations law.

She has already attended virtual court as an instructing attorney and plans to be in court when it reopens physically.