Désirée Bernard

Désirée Patricia Bernard (2 March 1939 – 28 March 2024 ) was a Guyanese lawyer and jurist who was the country's first female judge of the High Court in 1980 and Justice of Appeal of the Supreme Court in 1992. She was appointed Chief Justice of Guyana in 1996, Chancellor of the Judiciary of Guyana and the Caribbean in 2001 and a Judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice in 2005. In 2014, she was appointed to the Bermuda Court of Appeal.

Early life and education

Bernard was born in Georgetown on 2 March 1939, the only child of William and Maude Bernard. Her father was a Sergeant of Police. until her retirement in 2014.

In 2011, Bernard was appointed as a judge of the Inter-American Development Bank Administrative Tribunal in Washington, D.C. In December 2014, she was appointed to the Bermuda Court of Appeal by Governor George Fergusson.

Bernard was founding Secretary of the Caribbean Women's Association, serving from 1970 until 1974, and the first, and only female, President of the Organisation of Commonwealth Bar Associations in 1976. She was also President of the Georgetown Toastmistress Club and a member of numerous associations including the Guyana Consumers Association, the Council of the University of Guyana, the Guyana Adoption Board and the Guyana Girl Guides Association. In 2007, she was given an honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of the West Indies.

Publications