By Tangerine Clarke
Andrea Sabina Ogle, a Guyanese
born lawyer, assures,
that public service is one of the
most rewarding and gratifying
endeavors one can undertake,
and for the last 35 years, she has
demonstrated these attributes
through her passion for helping
others to navigate complex life
altering events and legal issues.
To this end, Ogle who is aspiring
to judgeship, in her diverse
Queens community, said she
was eager and prepared to steer
her career in this new direction
with an overriding sense of
responsibility of working for the
greater good.
“I have been qualified for
election as a judge for the Civil
and Family court and believes
that my appointment would
enhance both the credibility of
the justice system and also preserve
the public’s confidence in
it,” said Ogle who is passionate
about raising the bar in the legal
system.
Living the American dream,
as a successful attorney and
owner of a law firm since
migrating to the U.S. over 40
ago, Ogle said the Queens community
Caribbean L 24 ife, February 7-13, 2020
and population of New
York City continue to become
more increasingly multiracial
and multicultural. “It is important
that the judiciary reflects
the divergent racial and ethnic
community it serves.”
Ogle, who was honored by
the Borough of Queens, and
NYC County District 27, in recognition
of her dedication and
commitment to the community,
noted, that it was unquestionable
that a diverse bench enabled
the public to believe that they
are being represented within the
justice system, in order to promote
the notion of equality and
fairness to all.
An effective vice president of
Assigned Counsel Association
of Queens County Bar Association,
Ogle is a believer that “our
diversity and ethnicity shape
who we are and influence the
contributions that we make to
society.”
“Our life experiences, race
and gender, impact how we view
and relate to others. Today, multi
ethnicity is the norm and the
local population has matured
due to exposure to a panorama
of international cultures taking
root. It was not always so,” she
opined.
Ogle, a member of the Attorneys
For Children and 18b
Assigned Counsel Panels, who
has represented indigent adults
and children in Family Count
and Supreme court proceedings
since 1999, and played an integral
part in the launch of the
Family Treatment Court in 2002
in Queens County Family court,
said, she has benefited from the
dual culture inherent in having
born in a different country,
absorbing those cultural values,
and then coming to the United
States and assimilating into a
new culture.
“This experience has allowed
me to combine the best part of
two cultures and taught me the
importance of managing two
cultural realties,” said the barrister,
who has organized community
Andrea S. Ogle, Esq, right, with Consul General of Guyana
to New York, Barbara Atherly at a recent event.
Photo by Tangerine Clarke
events in conjunction
with various legislators of the
NYC Council, NYS Senate, NYS
Assembly, US Congress and the
Sullivan County Human Rights
Commission.
The Seaton Hall University
Law graduate, quoted Justice
Thurgood Marshall, “If we
deprive the legal process of the
benefits of differing viewpoints
and perspectives on a given
problem” then we are left with
“one-sided justice,” words she
lives by, and works to uphold
during her everyday belief that
justice and compassion are not
mutually exclusive.
Guyanese attorney aspires
to judgeship in Queens
We take the occasion of Black History Month
to recognize and salute the
African-American community whose
historic accomplishments have expanded
opportunity for all Americans.
CONGRESSMAN
GREGORY W. MEEKS
– Paid for and authorized by Friends for Gregory Meeks –
@GregMeeksNYC
@GregMeeksNYC
@GregMeeksNYC
5th Congressional
District of New York