A Guyana born woman was last month sworn in as a judge in the Queens Supreme Court in New York and will be presiding over criminal matters.
Years of hard work paid off for Pam Jackman-Brown, formerly of Springlands, Corentyne, when she was sworn in on January 27, becoming one of the few women to be so elected.
She was nominated following elections for the post in November last year, a media release from her relatives said.
After completing her education in Berbice, Brown migrated to the United States in 1973 where she was initially employed as secretary at the Department of Mental Health and Retardation.
While there, the release said, she was encouraged by her immediate supervisor to pursue studies in law. As a result she enrolled at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) to further her studies and graduated from there in 1979. Brown tutored for some time at BMCC in statistics before moving on to John Jay College to do administration courses.
The release added that one of her teachers there was Benjamin Ward, the former Commissioner of Police and he sent her to visit women’s correctional facilities as part of her course.
“Pam worked hard and graduated from John Jay ‘magna cum laude’ in 1983. She applied to various law schools and was accepted but after careful thought Pam decided to study at CUNY Law School. She was among the first batch of students in 1983,“ the release stated.
Thereafter, she graduated in 1986 with her law degree and “instead of looking for a lucrative job Pam decided to serve her community”. She took up a job with the Legal Aid Society in Brooklyn and the release quoted her as saying “At the Legal Aid Society I represented persons who were accused of crimes from misdemeanors to felonies. My most memorable case was to represent a gentleman who had a long rap sheet. Everyone thought he was guilty, except me. During the trial the facts did not play out and he was acquitted.”
Brown is the second of six children born to Charles and Olga Jackman.
The release added that in 1989 she received an offer to be a clerk for Judge Yvonne Lewis in Brooklyn.
Brown excelled in doing legal research, conferencing of cases and the drafting of legal opinions. She also worked as an arbitrator on small claims cases.
After nine years as a clerk she was surprised one day when Judge Lewis handed her a package which contained an application for her to apply to be a judge.
The appointment of a judge is a complicated six-step process and the candidate is required to pass in all of them. She was successful and was appointed a judge in the Housing Court Bench. She handled landlord and tenant matters and enforced the building codes, among others.
A judge must go through a rating system every five years and she has been re-appointed each time, the release added.
She worked in Queens County from 1998 until 2005 after which she went to Manhattan. In 2009 she was elected to the Civil Court where she served until 2010. “Pam’s ability was recognized and like an unstoppable force she continued to blaze the trail”, the release said adding that in 2010 she was appointed to act as a justice in the Supreme Court in Queens County, New York. She was assigned to the Civil Division, Matrimonial Part.
