When 24-year-old Jayaram Ajay Sanasie stood before Justice Deborah Kumar-Chetty recently, flanked by his petitioner, Attorney-at-Law Sase Gunraj of Gunraj & Co., he did more than fulfil a personal dream.
Jayaram Ajay Sanasie
He carried with him the values of seva (service), a family’s unwavering faith, and the hard-won lessons of a pandemic-era education that began at Saraswati Vidya Niketan (SVN) and stretched across the Caribbean to the Hugh Wooding Law School.
“It’s the people you meet along the way,” Sanasie reflected, echoing a line that has become his compass. “I’ll grow and evolve, but never forget the foundation upon which I was built.”
A CALLING SHAPED BY HARDSHIP AND SEVA
Sanasie’s decision to pursue law is rooted in a family experience in which access to justice depended on the ability to pay.
I chose law because too many people can’t afford legal services. Seva means you give back to what built you.
That ethic has already guided his choices, from chairing his high school’s graduation as a form of service to the career path he now envisions.
FROM SVN TO UG TO HUGH WOODING: IMPROVISING THROUGH A PANDEMIC
A Regions Three and Four resident, Sanasie credits SVN with instilling discipline and devotion to excellence.
At the University of Guyana (2020–2023), COVID-19 forced him and an entire cohort into a virtual academic world.
The isolation taught him to “improvise, adapt, and overcome,” he said, a mantra that would serve him well when he crossed to Trinidad and Tobago for law school.
He graduated on October 4, 2025, from Hugh Wooding Law School, just days before his admission to practise in Guyana.
Left to right: Jayaram, Justice Deborah Kumar-Chetty and Attorney-at-Law Sase Gunraj
FINDING COMMUNITY IN TRINIDAD
The transition to Trinidad was not easy. Without the option to live close to campus, Sanasie commuted roughly 20 minutes each way, longer in traffic, often returning home late by public transport.
What steadied him, he says, was the safety net of people: mentorship from Sase Gunraj and Rea Harris, brotherly guidance from classmate Dr. Quincy Jones, and the embrace of the Trinidad Sevashram Sangha, especially Swami Kailashanandaji, who helped make Trinidad feel like a second home.
Support is fundamental in this profession. Family, friends, lecturers, their words keep you going on the hardest days.
THE PRACTICE AHEAD: FAMILY, LAND AND CIVIL JUSTICE
Sanasie is clear about his focus: civil practice, especially family law, conveyancing, estates, land disputes, and broader civil litigation.
He will take summary criminal matters where appropriate, but his passion lies in the everyday disputes that determine whether families find closure, titles get transferred, and estates are settled with dignity.
The law is a jealous mistress. You have to know from the start that this is what you want to do and keep at it.
STAYING GROUNDED AS SUCCESS ARRIVES
In court, Sanasie pledged a “lifelong commitment to ensure that integrity, justice and impartiality are present and provided to the people of Guyana.”
It is a north star consistent with his upbringing, his faith, and the mentors who stood with him on admission day.
