When she decided to enter the political arena in 2007 as the Antigua Labour Party's candidate for St Phillip's South, Senator Maureen Payne-Hyman held the record of being the longest serving Magistrate in Antigua and Barbuda

The stint on the bench began in October 1992 and Maureen diligently worked her way up to become Chief Magistrate - a position in which she served with distinction. The uncompromising professionalism and fairness with which she executed her duties earned her the respect of other lawyers, the police, litigants, witnesses and prisoners alike.

Three years before the commencement of her Antigua assignment, Maureen's legal education along with her growing legal experience landed her an appointment by the Lord Chancellor of London as a Justice of the Peace and Magistrate at the Middlesex Division of the Brent Magistrate Court.