From clerk to champion

Fired by her passion and an unwavering commitment to justice, Senior Parish Judge Yvette Wentworth Miller is quietly reshaping Jamaica’s parish courts, one courthouse at a time.

Her tireless dedication to reform and public service has earned her one of the judiciary’s highest honours: the Chief Justice’s Award for Excellence.

Under her leadership, the St Catherine Parish Court achieved the second-highest performance ranking among parish courts islandwide – an impressive milestone reached in less than two years following her transfer to the jurisdiction.

Wentworth Miller, who previously served as senior parish judge in St Mary, has been instrumental in improving court operations and service delivery. She attributes her success to a hands-on leadership style and strong collaboration with judges and court staff.

Reacting to the award, a surprised Wentworth Miller told The Sunday Gleaner, “I am deeply humbled by this achievement. I believe that this is my passion, and I’ve always said that when you find yourself doing something and you can do it day in, day out without even thinking of what the compensation is going to be, that is a passion.

“Winning the Chief Justice’s Award for Excellence is truly an honour. It affirms my commitment to service,” she said. “It has inspired me to keep striving for excellence on behalf of the people of Jamaica.”

At the same time, she was quick to share credit, describing the award as a reflection of the collective effort of her colleagues and teams across both the St Mary and St Catherine courts.

The honour was presented at the Judiciary of Jamaica’s Awards and Recognition Banquet on Thursday, August 21, at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston. It is the judiciary’s highest individual accolade, awarded to a staff member who exemplifies courtesy, professionalism, leadership, innovation, and a commitment to transformation.

Wentworth Miller was selected from a field of 16 distinguished nominees.

Her journey in the judiciary began as an assistant clerk at the Half-Way Tree court – an experience she credits with giving her deep insight into the justice system.

She rose through the ranks to become a parish judge and was promoted to senior parish judge just two years after taking up an assignment in St Mary in January 2014.

In St Mary, she transformed a low-performing court into a consistent top-five performer.

“At one point, we were number one, and we consistently ranked among the top five. Since then, we’re one, two, three, and for the most part, we’re in the top five,” she said. The court again claimed the top spot this year.

She also spearheaded critical upgrades, including the addition of a judge’s chamber, a children’s room, interview spaces, improved staff lunchroom, and facilities for detainees. Notably, she had a staircase redesigned to improve accessibility for physically challenged individuals who had long been unable to access parts of the court.

As part of her efforts to streamline case management, Wentworth Miller created an intake court to handle new matters more efficiently – an initiative she personally oversaw.

“I saw where it assisted us greatly to be able to move our matters forward, and that contributed greatly, in addition to having a new judge assigned to the parish,” she said.

Taking a proactive role

In St Catherine, she introduced a structured case management process for criminal cases, taking a proactive role in clearing the backlog.

“And in implementing that process, I put myself in the case management court, so I was effectively dealing with over 90 per cent of all the matters coming in, and I disposed of a significant amount – 90 per cent – so that helped us to achieve the number two ranking that we now have,” she explained.

Staff welfare also ranks high on her agenda. She oversaw upgrades to lunchroom and restroom facilities at the Linstead Court, guided by the belief that a comfortable work environment encourages better performance.

With St Catherine Court handling the second-largest case load in the island, Wentworth Miller also restructured court schedules to increase courtroom use at outstations such as Linstead, Old Harbour, and Portmore. She also advocated for additional judges and staff to further improve delivery.

Wentworth Miller was again quick to credit her success to the commitment of her team.

“Teamwork made the dream work. I believe in utilising resources that you have, and no one individual has all the answers,” she told The Sunday Gleaner, highlighting the role of regular management meetings.

She also introduced regular stakeholder engagement meetings, anonymous blind surveys for court staff to raise challenges, and the appointment of responsible officers to improve internal accountability.

“Responsible officers are officers, judges, and clerks of the court – I call them management and second-tier management,” she explained. “They would have been given specific responsibility in relation to certain areas of operation of the court, and their main function is to ensure that there is immediate attention and intervention where necessary. So I think that is something that we can continue to build on.

“We can continue as well to increase and advocate for more improved staff facilities because where you have comfortable staff, they will give you their 100 per cent, and the staff, as it is now, they are working in conditions not really ideal, but they are giving up their best,” the judge added.

Miller Wentworth has also made it a priority to foster a supportive work environment, noting that regular staff events and simple acts of recognition go a long way in encouraging teamwork.

Map a shared vision

One of her first initiatives upon arriving in St Catherine, she recalled, was a blind survey – open to all staff, including judges – to identify internal challenges and map a shared vision for the court’s future.

The results helped shape her one-year improvement plan, which she continues to build on.

“So it is not any one thing. It is a combination of many things. We have some great things in place now that have taken us to number two, and definitely, we are going for the number one spot. Because when I started in St Catherine, my aim was to be number one.”

“And I must say that I have a great team of judges that I am working with at the moment, and our goal is to get that number one spot,” she added.

The award, she noted, has also inspired her colleagues and staff.

“My peers, they are excited, some of them saying that they were not surprised – but I was. I have been getting a lot of encouragement, not just from my peers at the St Catherine Parish Court, but from my peers throughout the judiciary, from all levels of the court, and it is comforting to me to know that your peers recognise your hard work, too.”

Her staff, she shared, is very excited and is more encouraged to work harder.

Asked by The Sunday Gleaner if she aspires to become Chief Justice one day, Wentworth Miller laughed.

“I believe that it is God who appoints you into positions, so I trust the Creator to know that He will place me in whatever position that he thinks I am best suited to serve this beautiful country of Jamaica and our judiciary.”

To young legal professionals, particularly women, she offers strong words of encouragement.

“When I started working in the parish court as an assistant clerk, there were more male judges than female judges. Now, it is actually the reverse. So what it has taught me is that whatever you put your mind to, you can achieve. So I would just encourage them to aim for the sky, aim for their dream,” she said.

And to the wider public, she offered this assurance, “I just want the Jamaican public to know that we take justice very seriously and we have a Chief Justice who is putting all the relevant teams in place to ensure that justice is delivered on time.”

She also pledged continued commitment to the users of the St Catherine court.

“We are working hard to make the environment comfortable and are putting in the relevant processes to ensure timely and efficient justice.”

Among the awardees were Justice David Fraser, the most distinguished judge of the Court of Appeal; Justice Lorna Shelly Williams, the most distinguished judge of the Supreme Court; Justice Nicole Kellier, of the St Mary Parish Court, most distinguished judge of the parish court; and Judge Janelle Nelson, of the St Catherine Parish Court, who won both the emerging leader and the innovator awards.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com