This great son of the soil Mr. Colin Bobb-Semple was born in Guyana (then British Guiana), South America, and has resided in England since the age of fourteen. Colin attended St Stanislaus College of Guyana, one of the leading Boys Schools in Guyana. He attained a Bachelor’s Degree in Law, Master’s Degrees in Law and in Criminal Justice, and is qualified to practise as a lawyer/attorney in three jurisdictions.
He practised as a solicitor in England for several years and was a Senior Lecturer on the Bar Vocational Course at the Inns of Court School of Law/City University, Gray’s Inn, London, for twenty years. He was Coordinator for Human Rights on that Course for several years. He also lectured on the LL.M in Criminal Litigation at City University, London, and was Sentencing Subject Leader for several years.
He was a member of the Race Relations Sub-Committee of the National Council for Civil Liberties in the 1970’s, and a member of the Race Relations Committee and the Equality Policy Sub-Committee of the Bar Council of England and Wales for seven years. He was a member of the Board of Visitors (Prison Monitors) at Her Majesty’s Prison, Wormwood Scrubs, London, for six years.
He has published extensively in the fields of Criminal Justice, Racial Equality, Legal History, Prison issues and Human Rights. He has special interests in researching the Ancient Egyptian source of Greek, Roman, European and English Law, and the legal history of African enslavement, Emancipation, the African Holocaust and the Movement for Reparations.
He received a Lifetime Award from Black Solicitors Network in the UK in 2007 for his accomplishments in legal practice and in legal education, and an Award for Excellence in Legal Education from The City Law School, City University, London, in 2007, for teaching on the Master of Laws Degree.
Higher qualifications:
LLB (Hons) (University of London); LLM (University of London); MA (Criminal Justice) (Brunel University).
Professional organisations:
Non-practising in the following three jurisdictions:
Law Society of England and Wales – Solicitor (admitted 1974) & Higher Courts Advocate, Civil and Criminal Proceedings (England and Wales, 2010).
Attorney–at-Law (Guyana, South America, admitted 2004).
Solicitor and Barrister (St Christopher and Nevis, Eastern Caribbean, admitted 2009).
Colin notably was the only Black pupil at his Grammar school in London for some time, where he was promoted to sergeant in the RAF Cadets. He was an all-rounder in the school’s first cricket 11. This all-round pupil was also a winger in the Rugby first XV. Colin scored some other firsts. He was at one stage the solicitor to have headed the largest Legal Aid practice in England and Wales in the late 1970s to early 1980s. Colin was also one of a few Solicitors in England and Wales that prosecuted Police Officers in the magistrates’ courts on charges of assault on Black clients.
Further, he was the only Black male solicitor to have lectured on the Bar Course at the Inns of Court School of Law for 20 years as a Senior Lecturer.
Work in Guyana
Colin headed the Law Revision Team of the MONUMENTAL GUYANA LAW REVISION PROJECT 2010 TO 2012. Among his Facebook Friends to be mentioned who assisted Colin on this challenging project are:- Mrs. Orinthia Gilgeours-Mars, Miss Arianne McLean, Mr. John Milton Fraser and Mr. Adrian Smith, just a few of the 20+ Consultants who made some sterling contributions.
This proud son of the soil should be complimented for his outstanding contribution to the Legal System of Guyana and on a personal note, for his love for his country of birth Guyana.
Continue that great legal mission at home and abroad.
WE all love you Colin
Ted
