Govt anticipates favourable response on access to Hugh Wooding

Apr 05, 2014 News

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Government is anticipating a reversal of the decision made earlier this year by the Council of Legal Education (CLE) to not renew an agreement to have the top graduates of the University of Guyana’s Law School automatically secure a place at the Hugh Wooding Law School.

Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister, Anil Nandlall, in a statement issued last evening said that “the Government of Guyana eagerly awaits a response from the Chairman of the Council of Legal Education,” adding that “we expect that the response will be favourable to the Guyanese graduands.”
According to him too, “Government remains ready, able and willing to work with the University of Guyana, the University of the West Indies, the Council for Legal Education and any other stakeholder to bring a speeding and long term resolution to this matter.”
In his statement, Nandlall disclosed that at the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which recently concluded its 25th Inter-Sessional Meeting, held on the 10th-11th March, 2014, in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, President Donald Ramotar had cause to raise the decision of the Executive Board of the CLE.
The CLE decision was made on February 2014 in Bridgetown Barbados, which has serious implications for the access to the Law Schools and consequently admission to practice Law by persons, other than graduates of the University of the West Indies, more particularly, graduates of the University of Guyana.
And according to Nandlall, this decision of the Council will, in essence, jeopardise the automatic admission of L.L.B graduands from the University of Guyana into the Hugh Wooding Law School, which has, hitherto, existed under a UWI/UG C.L.E Collaborative Agreement. The agreement was designed to ensure that the top 25 UG graduands were guaranteed automatic entry to the Hugh Wooding Law School. This agreement expired and has not been renewed for the year 2014.
This matter was discussed at the Heads of Government meeting and it was resolved that the Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM, the Honourable Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, write to the Chairman of the CLE conveying the views and the decision of the Heads of Government on the matter.
Moreover, on the 31st March, 2014, Prime Minister Gonsalves dispatched a letter to Chairman of the CLE, Ms. Jacqueline Samuels-Browne, QC.
An excerpt of the correspondent reads: “This matter is of grave concern to Heads of Government, as it effectively results in Guyanese students having no access to the Law Schools, notwithstanding that they would have entered the UG Programme in the expectation that at least the top 25 graduates were entitled to automatic admission. It is also of tremendous concern that in the current scenario, admission to the practice of Law in the CLE Member Countries is restricted to the graduates of one institution.
The implications of the decision by the Council and the Law Schools are far-reaching in terms of the provision of legal education services and access to the legal profession in the context of liberalisation of trade in services and in a Community which has established a Single Market and free movement of service providers and Skilled Nationals. The Conference considered this matter at its recent Inter-Sessional Meeting and: Agreed that the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, as Chair of the Conference, would write to the Chairperson of the Council of Legal Education to request that the Council accommodate the automatic admission of the top 25 Guyanese Graduates for the academic year 2014-2015; Also noted the implications of  the recent decision of the Council of Legal Education for admission, by examination, of graduates other than Guyanese from the University of Guyana and graduates from non-UWI LLB programmes in the Community; Mandated the Council of Legal Education to complete a thorough review of legal education in the community before the next academic year to resolve the deeper issues concerning legal education including access and the role and function of the Council of Legal Education.
Accordingly, I write as Chair of the Conference, to request that the Council accommodate the automatic admission of the top 25 Guyanese Graduates for the academic year 2014-2015. I also draw to your attention that the Conference, representing the Heads of Government of the parties to the CLE Agreement, has mandated that the Council complete a thorough review of legal education in the Community before the next academic year to resolve the deeper issues concerning legal education, including access and the role and function of the Council of Legal Education.
I am aware that the Council is conscious of many of these issues and I am sure the review will result in positive developments for legal education and the practice of Law in the Community.”
And according to Nandlall it is anticipated that the missive inked by Prime Minister Gonsalves will serve to remedy the dejected situation Guyana currently faces.

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