Dia C. Forrester is a Grenadian lawyer practising in St. Kitts & Nevis and Grenada. She served as Grenada’s first female

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

from January 2021 to June 2022. She has also held several prominent legal positions across the

Eastern Caribbean The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS; French: ''Organisation des États de la Caraïbe orientale'', OECO) is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal ...

, including Solicitor General of Grenada and partner at Daniel Brantley law firm in St. Kitts and Nevis.

Early life and education

Forrester is the daughter of cultural activist Don Charles and celebrated female vocalist Agnes Forrester. She has a Bachelor of Laws with Honours from the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 18 English-speaking countries and territories in t ...

Cave Hill, a Legal Education Certificate of Merit from

Hugh Wooding Law School The Hugh Wooding Law School (HWLS) is a law school in Trinidad and Tobago. History Named for Trinidad and Tobago jurist and politician Hugh Wooding, HWLS is one of three law schools empowered by the (Caribbean) Council of Legal Education to a ...

and a Master of Laws in International Banking and Finance law from

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

. She was also a national

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

player and

OECS The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS; French: ''Organisation des États de la Caraïbe orientale'', OECO) is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal ...

table tennis team champion.

Career

Forrester was called to Grenada's

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

in 2008, and subsequently to the bars of

Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis, officially the Federation of Saint Christopher (St Kitts) and Nevis, is an island country consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, both located in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands chain of the Less ...

and

Anguilla Anguilla is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Sa ...

in 2013. Her legal practice has encompassed banking and finance law, commercial and civil litigation, taxation, insolvency and intellectual property law. She has held positions on both the Grenada National Anti-doping Organisation and the Caribbean Regional Anti-Doping Organisation. From 2017 to 2023, Forrester was a partner at Daniel Brantley law firm in St. Kitts and Nevis. In March 2020, she was named among the defendants in a lawsuit filed in

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

by America 2030 Capital Limited, alleging corruption and breach of confidentiality against St Kitts and Nevis Foreign Affairs Minister

Mark Brantley Mark Anthony Graham Brantley (born 11 January 1969) is the Premier of Nevis, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and former Minister of Foreign Affairs for St Kitts and Nevis. On May 10, 2022, Dr Timothy Harris, having lost the s ...

. The suit was dismissed on 7 May 2020. Forrester served as Solicitor General of Grenada from April 2019 to December 2020, during which time she represented the government in negotiations and court proceedings. On 31 December 2020, she made history as the first woman to be appointed Attorney General of Grenada when Prime Minister

Keith Mitchell Keith Claudius Mitchell (born 12 November 1946) is a Grenadian politician who served as Prime Minister of Grenada from 1995 to 2008 and from 2013 to 2022. He is the longest-serving Prime Minister in Grenadian history, holding the office for mo ...

selected her to replace the outgoing Darsham Ramdhani, who stepped down to serve as a judge. Following the opposition party's victory in Grenada's 2022

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

, Forrester was replaced as Attorney General by Claudette Joseph. She then served as an acting High Court Judge in the Eastern Caribbean in Antigua in January 2023 to February notably adjudicating several matters related to the 2023 Antigua & Barbuda General Elections and several commercial matters. In August 2020, Forrester completed the inaugural Women in Politics Leadership Institute at the

US Embassy The United States has the second largest number of active diplomatic posts of any country in the world after the People's Republic of China, including 272 bilateral posts (embassies and consulates) in 174 countries, as well as 11 permanent miss ...

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

. She has also served as a local agent for Grenada's Citizenship by investment programme. In 2024, Forrester established her own law firm, with practices in both Grenada and St. Kitts and Nevis.

References

External links

Government profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forrester, Dia Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Female table tennis players University of the West Indies alumni Alumni of University College London Solicitors general Female justice ministers Attorneys general of Grenada 21st-century Grenadian lawyers 21st-century women lawyers Alumni of the UCL Faculty of Laws