'First Lady' Nicole - New solicitor general settles in
Published:Monday | August 27, 2012 | 12:00 AM
Lovelette Brooks, Lifestyle Editor
Her "Ahaa!" moment, as she calls it, came well into her career. She stepped back, paused, and asked herself, "Is this me? Am I up to the challenge?
I took stock and wondered if maybe there was something else I really love," quips attorney-at-law Nicole Foster- Pusey. "But I really love what I do, and I am fairly good at it!", she affirmed. That was six years ago.
Today, the petite 42-year-old with 18-plus years' service at the Bar is Jamaica's new and first female solicitor general. She was appointed earlier this month after practising as a sole practitioner for a few years.
Conservatively attired in a black skirt suit, minimal jewellery and no make-up, she sat down recently with Flair for a good chat about her life and career.
The Attorney General's Chambers from where she now sits is not a new arena for her. She served in various areas between 1993 and 2008, including litigation, state proceedings, commercial affairs, constitutional and legislative affairs while acting as resident magistrate.
Foster-Pusey hit the spotlight years ago while working as director of litigation. The case: Government against Olint, one of many unregulated financial institutions that operated in Jamaica. She successfully argued on behalf of the Government and engineered a "desirable outcome" in court.
"It was interesting," she says, of the "significant case which involved interpreting and understanding the Constitution, especially where the provisions have serious implications."
A firebrand attorney, which her calm demeanour and measured responses betray, Foster-Pusey grew up in a conservative Christian home which she has successfully replicated. She is enjoying 12 years of marriage to Nigel, pastor of the North Street United Church of Jamaica and Grand Cayman.
Looking back on her formative years in rural Jamaica, Foster-Pusey feels she was being pampered and prepared to be exactly where she is now.
cultural person
"I was no good at sports," she laughs, I have always been an academic and cultural person - singing, acting, poetry, and oh, I love to read." She reveals Louise Bennett-Coverley and C. Everad Palmer as two of her icons.
From Retrieve in St James, Foster-Pusey went to Porus in Manchester and attended Porus Infant and Primary School growing up under the tutelage of her mother who was a teacher.
The solicitor general, who loves to sing and direct music, went to Manchester High School. "While I was was head girl, Christopher Tufton was head boy," she offers, sharing also the many extra-curricula activities that filled her days at school.
"I was very involved - the school choir, debating club, drama club, Inter-School Christian Fellowship, 4-H Club, and there was a folk-singing group that I was a member of," says the attorney, who still has dreams of joining the national choir.
After high school, Foster-Pusey studied at The University of The West Indies, before taking up scholarships abroad.
"At school, I did not know what I wanted to do. I applied for law and got accepted; it was stiff getting into the law faculty at that time", she says.
Years of study, a master's degree later, and many academic accolades including the Jennings Prize (Wolfson) for achieving First Class Honours and the Hugh Bevan Prize (Wolfson) for the most distinguished LLM student, Foster-Pusey was called to the Jamaican Bar and her barristerial endeavours continue in earnest.
Apart from standing tall in the halls of justice, the solicitor general is big on service. She sits on the board of several institutions, including the Mona Preparatory School and the Jamaica Association of Composers, Authors & Publishers Limited. She currently serves on the board of the non-profit entity Choose Life International. Professionally, she is an affiliate of the Jamaican Bar Association, the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship and the Jamaica Bar Association publications committee.
Foster-Pusey is enjoying motherhood. She has two children - Victoria, 8 and Kenneth, 5. Her special moments with them are reading before bedtime and travelling around the island.
Her credo in life: Love of God, love of family and fulfilment in career.