During this year, H. Lavity Stoutt Community College is featuring weekly profiles of past students as part of its 20th anniversary celebrations.

Profile # 5

Fiona Forbes, Associate, Lennox Paton (Counsel, Attorneys-at-Law, Notaries Public).

Fiona graduated from HLSCC in 2001 with the Associate Degree in General Studies (Advanced Level Option). Immediately after graduating, she went on to do further studies in law at the University of the West Indies and the Eugene Dupuch Law School.

Fiona joined Lennox Paton in 2006 as an Associate within the Financial Services Group. She is presently attached to Lennox Paton’s BVI office, having also worked in the Bahamas Office. She advises on a variety of finance and general corporate matters, including corporate restructuring, regulatory matters and investment funds.

Ms. Forbes is also currently serving on the College’s 20th Anniversary Steering Committee.

Education: Althea Scatliffe Primary School 1990-1994, BVI High School 1994-1999, HLSCC 2000-2001, University of West Indies 2004, Eugene Dupuch Law School 2005-2006.

Usual Place of Residence: Tortola, British Virgin Islands

Employment History

Associate Attorney/Human Resources Manager, Lennox Paton, 2006 & continuing

Attorney General’s Chambers, 2004-2005

Banco Popular (BVI) Limited, 2001-2003

Publications: A Guide To International Financial Centres, What Chinese Investors Need To Know: Longtail International, 2009

Areas of Practice, Corporate Law, Companies, Investment Funds, Probate, Private Client

Outside Interests: Travel, Kick Boxing, Reading

Memberships: Bar of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (Virgin Islands) Circuit

Thoughts about the College, its role, mission, programme and future

HLSCC plays a critical role in the continuing development of BVI people; it cannot be over emphasized that the most valuable commodity in the world today is knowledge. The College gives the people of the BVI an opportunity to compete locally and overseas, both academically and professionally.

This is a key role which cannot be underestimated, because if we as the people of the BVI allow persons in the rest of the Caribbean and indeed the world to “out-educate” us they will certainly “out-compete us”.

My hope for the College is to see it blossom into a fully accredited university, offering a plethora of options for study.

It is my view that by opening its doors the College has made a promise to educate and the fulfillment of this promise will determine how the BVI is able to surmount the greatest challenges and most difficult problems faced as a country in the 21st and in years to come.

Thoughts about time spent at HLSCC, education received and impact on your life

HLSCC was very instrumental in transitioning me into university life, albeit on a much smaller scale. I must admit that my transition from high school where I was told what to do, how to do it, and when to do it into an environment where I was given assignments and deadlines and was expected to show initiative and ingenuity was a bit difficult at first.

I was placed in classes with persons with varying backgrounds and a wide range of experiences. I was introduced to lecturers who emphasized that I was no longer in high school and that what I considered my best had to improve. In other words, I had to step up my game or be left behind. HLSCC taught me how to cope with my new-found independence in a learning environment, particularly in the area of time management.

Having gone through university, and now being fully integrated into the working world, there are a few things that resonate with me:

1. That the educational foundation received in the BVI can stand up against educational foundations established in the greatest of nations. I am living proof of that, and I know that I am not the only one, having read of other BVIslanders excelling and surpassing persons educated and trained in bigger countries.

2. That a “small island” education can go a long way in determining great success, and that we as BVIslanders only have ourselves to blame if we fail to take advantage of the many opportunities being presented to us.

The moments I spent at the College enabled me to harness my drive to succeed and maintain my competitive edge, both regionally at the University of the West Indies, and also internationally at the University of Toronto. In addition, I was able to strengthen existing friendships and forge a network of new friends, many of whom are still my friends and have become my colleagues today.

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