Following the retirement of Sir Richard McMahon at the end of August, Ms Roland will step up to the role.
‘I’m chuffed,’ she said yesterday between court hearings. ‘It’s been so well received, which is so nice to feel like you’re starting off on the right foot.
‘I’ve known for about a week and have only been able to share it with my family – I’ve got two kids who needed to get used to the idea of all this excitement. It’s been quite a weird thing. When I think I’ve come from being a Forest Primary and Girls’ Grammar school girl, and now I’m the Bailiff. That social mobility seems extraordinary really.’
Ms Roland will be Guernsey’s first female Bailiff, in the 748 years that the role has existed.
But she said this was simply an inevitability waiting to happen, though she would be proud to be the first.
‘Women are senior in the law now,’ she said.
‘It was going to happen. And it was me, and I’m delighted that it was me, but it didn’t have to be me. Even in Jersey now they’ve managed to appoint a female law officer. Soon this will not even be a thing.’
Ms Roland was recommended for the role, rather than having to go through a formal application process as she did to become Deputy Bailiff.
‘I’m delighted with how well it’s gone,’ she said.
‘There was a check and balance about whether I was the right person for the job.
‘So what was slightly odd about it, is that I knew I was being recommended, but then it goes to the Minister of Justice, then the Chancellor and then the King. And until the King says “yes” – it doesn’t happen. Isn’t that incredible? So I felt a little uncertain, but as far as I know, the King has never said “I’ve just read that name – you must be kidding.”
Ms Roland became Deputy Bailiff in 2020, and was sworn in during Covid, in lockdown.
Her upcoming ceremony, which is due to take place at the end of summer, will be more of a public celebration.
‘I’m excited to do it properly this time, but I was very happy with the Covid way of doing it, too,’ she said.
‘It was just me, my mum, my children, my husband and a few court officials. This is going to be a big one. Because the Bailiff also missed out on a big shindig, there’s quite a lot of focus on this one.’
Born and raised in Guernsey, Ms Roland came into being a Royal Court judge direct from private legal practice – she was managing partner at Mourant – which she admitted was increasingly rare.
‘But I don’t think there’s a right way of doing it,’ she said.
‘I just think it is a good way.
‘Richard Collas and myself are the only ones to have come from private practice [in recent years]. Richard McMahon and everybody else came through the law officers. I don’t think either is a better way, you bring different things to the job, all of which are equally useful.’
It is not yet known who the new Deputy Bailiff will be, but Ms Roland said she was looking forward to ‘some really good’ candidates putting their name forward soon.