Former Attorney General and Senior Counsel Bernard De Santos died on Friday evening.
Guyana Times understands that De Santos was rushed to the Dr Balwant Singh Hospital after he felt unwell and later became unresponsive. The legal luminary was 80 years old at the time of his passing.
Senior Counsel De Santos has had an illustrious career, which begun upon his return to Guyana after completing his law degree in 1965 at the Inns Court School of Law of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple London, England.
He joined the Luckhoo and Luckhoo law firm before becoming an acting Magistrate in the Georgetown Magisterial District in 1968. After one year, he returned to the Private Sector and opened his own law firm.
Former AG and Senior Counsel Bernard De Santos
In 1991, De Santos was appointed a Senior Counsel. That same year, he joined the civic component of the People’s Progressive Party upon the request of Dr Cheddi Jagan and the following year, campaigned for the Party as a candidate – an election which the party won. He was then appointed Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister when the PPP/C took office in 1992 and served five years.
As AG, De Santos held several appointments including Member of the Constitutional Reform Commission, Member of the Sub-Committee on Governance, Member of the United Nations Permanent Court of Council, Member of the Sectoral Committees on Constitutional Reform and Foreign Relations.
Senior Counsel De Santos then went back to private practice up until his death.
