For as long as she can remember, Theominique Nottage ’09 has wanted to become an attorney. Nottage has yearned to advocate for social change and to provide the legal framework for those changes. She believes that lawyers should be socially responsible and effect positive change in society.
Today Nottage is realizing her dream. In October of 2015, she was admitted to practice as counsel and attorney-at-law of the Supreme Court of The Bahamas. She chose a careful, deliberate path to her dream, not simply the most expedient one. Her journey has been well worth it, though, she says, because it has framed the way she sees the world and the challenges that face it.
A native of the capital city of Nassau, Nottage could have become an attorney years ago. Most engaged in that profession in The Bahamas pursue the requisite degree, a Bachelors of Law, after just two years of post-secondary education, usually in the form of an associate degree, she explained. However, Nottage chose to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree with Integral Honors in peace and global studies and Spanish at Le Moyne before returning to The Bahamas to study law. She was drawn to the College because of its “strong Jesuit tradition and its academic programs,” as well as its capacity “to prepare students not just for careers, but to have a great impact on the world.”
Nottage savored her four years on the Heights. In addition to her coursework, she was active in numerous student organizations, including Pride in Our Work, Ethnicity and Race, the International Club, and Model United Nations, as well as in the LEAD Learning Community. All of those experiences provided her with a strong foundation upon which to build.
“It was at Le Moyne where I first began to understand the concept of global citizenship and began to align my professional and academic goals to becoming a global citizen,” she said. “As a result of my time at Le Moyne, I can incorporate service learning and leadership through service in my legal career thus making me a socially responsible attorney.”
Nottage’s time at Le Moyne also instilled in her a thirst to continue to learn. Today she is pursuing a Master of Laws (LLM) degree at Queen Mary, University of London, where she is a Chevening Scholar. As the United Kingdom’s global scholarship program, the Chevening Scholarship makes awards to outstanding scholars with leadership potential from around the world to complete postgraduate work at colleges and universities throughout the U.K. Nottage was one of only 1,800 people chosen as Scholars from 32,000 applicants in the 2015/2016 cycle.
“I actually first found out about the Chevening Scholarship while I was a sophomore at Le Moyne College,” she recalled. “I was inspired to apply for the scholarship due to its emphasis on selecting those with leadership potential, the strength of its funding, its access to some of the world’s best educational institutions, and the networking opportunities available as a Chevening Scholar and later Chevening alumna.”
Nottage noted that reaching that goal of becoming a Chevening Scholar required persistence. She applied three times before she was selected as a Chevening Scholar. Similarly, after graduating from Le Moyne in 2009, she applied to work for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat, but due to the global financial crisis at the time, CARICOM was not able to extend her an offer of employment. It wasn’t until 2014 that she was granted the opportunity to work at CARICOM as an intern in the Office of the General Counsel at the CARICOM Secretariat in Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana.
“For every major goal that I have accomplished, I have had to fail first before I experienced success,” she said.
During her time in London, Nottage began a blog, “The Global Citizen 242,” in which she reflects on her experiences as a Chevening Scholar. She plans to use this blog as a platform to assist others in gaining academic scholarships and developing themselves as global citizens. Her hope is that it will serve as tool to improve the lives of Bahamians individually and as a tool to combat the Bahamian brain drain, ultimately leading to “a stronger Bahamian collective.”
As for the future, Nottage plans to return to The Bahamas and advance its position as an arbitration center. Her eventual goal is to work for an international law firm and to gain further experience in her chosen speciality – international arbitration.
“My experiences both personally and professionally have emphasized the old adage that delay is not denial,” she said. “I would encourage others to never give up, to take failure as a necessary evil on the on the road to success and to continue working towards their goals.”
Learn More:
Pre-Law Programs at Le Moyne
Peace & Global Studies at Le Moyne
Career Development