President Barack Obama and Jamaican David Panton share common feat...the first black president of the Harvard Law Review (HLR). Only two black men have held that post. Obama, president of the United States, and Jamaican David Panton. Mr. Panton is a graduate of Princeton University, Harvard University and Rhode Scholar at Oxford University in England.

BY HOWARD CAMPBELL Observer writer  Monday, April 06, 2015    

IN February, the liberal Huffington Post website republished a New York Times feature from 1990 on 28-year-old Barack Obama becoming the first black president of the Harvard Law Review (HLR).

David Panton & President Barack Obama-  Former President of the Harvard Law Review (HLR).

Only two black men have held that post. Obama, president of the United States, and Jamaican David Panton.

Obama, who visits Jamaica on Wednesday, retains the universal celebrity that accompanied his historic election as US president in November 2008.

Panton, a successful financier in Atlanta, is largely unknown to his countrymen. A former member of the Jamaica Labour Party's youth affiliate, G2K, he served briefly in the Senate before migrating.

Professor Orlando Patterson, a Jamaican sociologist, is a senior member of the Arts and Sciences faculty at Harvard. He told the Jamaica Observer that it is "hardly surprising" that Panton never attained political success in Jamaica.

"Jamaica is a funny place. Whom Jamaicans choose to recognise is a mystery," said Patterson.

According to the 74-year-old academic, being president of the HLR is a big deal at Harvard and in American legal circles. The most influential legal minds in the country often use the publication as reference in high-profile cases.

Obama is among a distinguished list of HLR presidents who went on to achieve. Others include Supreme Court justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John G Roberts, Jr, and Antonin Scalia; former New York governor Eliot Spitzer; current Republican senator and presidential hopeful Ted Cruz; and Jeffrey Toobin, a senior legal analyst at CNN.

(L-R) OBAMA… retains the universal celebrity that accompanied
 his historic election as US president. PATTERSON… my sense
 generally is that academics are not recognised in Jamaica.
 PANTON… was not involved in politics long enough to grow on
Jamaicans politically.

After flirting briefly with politics, Panton moved to Atlanta where he operates Panton Capital Holdings, a private equity business. He was recently named one of the Atlanta Business Chronicle's '40 Under 40' Rising Stars.

Patterson, who was an adviser to Jamaica's prime minister Michael Manley from 1972-79, remembers Panton's election as HLR president. He believes it is difficult for people like him to make a mark in Jamaica.

"My sense generally is that academics are not recognised in Jamaica. People are more into persons in popular culture, sports and finance... It's the nature of the Jamaican standard," he said. more