Danine Jones
Danine Jones is a seasoned attorney and legal professional with 24 years of experience in the legal field, primarily serving quasi-governmental institutions across the Caribbean. She began her career providing legislative drafting services and offering legal advice to corporate bodies. At the National Insurance Services St. Vincent and the Grenadines, she managed arrears collection, conducted court work in the magistrate court, and interviewed individuals to assess their ability to pay. She later served as Legal Officer at Millennium Heights Medical Complex, overseeing legal matters for the Owen King European Union Hospital and associated mental health and rehabilitation facilities. Her work has consistently involved drafting contracts and legislation, analyzing legal risk, and providing day-to-day legal guidance in dynamic institutional environments.
Danine holds an LL.M. in International Commercial Law and Dispute Resolution from the University of South Wales, a postgraduate diploma in Legislative Drafting, and a Graduate Certificate in Competition Law and Policy from the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus. She recently completed a second LL.M. with concentrations in International and Commercial Law, focusing her thesis on the decriminalization of cannabis in small island developing states and the implications for trade and development under the UN Drug Conventions. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. with EUCLID University, affiliated with the United Nations, further advancing her expertise in international law and policy.
Throughout her career, Danine has undertaken extensive professional development, including training with the International Labour Organization (Turin Campus) and the International Maritime Organization, as well as in emerging fields such as Fintech and risk management. Her expertise spans corporate governance, intellectual property, alternative dispute resolution, environmental and consumer law, procurement, and contract management. Having navigated diverse and evolving legal landscapes, she is now transitioning into academia, pursuing her long-held aspiration to become a professor and mentor the next generation of legal professionals.
• Legal Education Certificate
• Postgraduate Diploma in Legislative Drafting
• Certificate in Procurement Law
• Certificate in Competition and Consumer Law
• Management Certificate
• University of the West Indies - LL.B, Law
• Hugh Wooding Law School - LEC, Law
• Swiss International Law School with Bond University- Australia - LLM
• University of South Wales - LLM
• Dean's List at Law School
• Award for Young Women in Entrepreneurial Studies
• A-Level Grade 1 in Shakespeare Studies
• UNESCO Silver Medal in Art
• St. Lucia Bar Association
• St. Vincent and the Grenadines Bar Association
• Kiwanis
• Girl Guides Association
• Kiwanis (youth development)
• Girl Guides Association (youth development)
• St. Vincent and the Grenadines Girl Guides Association
What do you attribute your success to?
I think my parents, because I watched them work hard for us as their children, and I saw their work ethic, I saw their advancements, and their ability to keep their integrity and to ensure that they gave us an example of what you ought to do when you are not just working, but living life. I think they inspired me to be successful. I should not say just my parents only, I should say my family, because I have family members who have achieved quite a lot, family members who have PhDs. I have an aunt who's my favorite aunt who is a professor in law in the United States, and I think they pushed me to become successful and always encouraged me.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received is that I'm not indispensable. Because I'm a person who tends not to say no, I say yes, yes, yes all the time. And one of the things that they told me is that, you know, you can't always say yes, or you have to tell people you will get this, but you will get it at a particular time. So not to overwork myself, because it doesn't make any sense for the organization or for me. I think that's the best career advice I ever got.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say not to be too hard on yourself, not to beat yourself up. I would also say to others, you know, you are unique in your own way, and don't measure yourself against other people. Cause when you do that, you think that you're a failure, you think that I could be better, or I am not doing something, that's why I'm not here, while other people are here. I would say not to measure your success against other person's success, because you have your own unique way of doing things, and also your work environment can be different, so you need to try to understand your own needs and your own desires to achieve something. So don't measure yourself against other people, just know that you're unique in your own way, you will have your success. It may not come immediately, it may not come tomorrow, but you will get there with hard work and perseverance. It's a difficult profession, you're gonna meet a lot of roadblocks, a lot of hurdles, but understand that you are unique, and you will get there. And you don't have to do the things that other people are doing.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Definitely honesty, transparency, integrity, empathy, for sure. I think we ought to be empathetic towards each other. Professionalism is definitely a big one for me. I believe that, you know, because we are professionals, well, I am a professional, I hold that very, very high as a high value in my working life. It's one of my core values, and I would say accountability, that's important as well. And customer service, you know, we provide services to those persons who are inside of our organization and outside of our organization, and I think in order to provide good customer service to our customers and our stakeholders, we have to start with those persons inside our organization.