Regional body questions accessibility of Guyanese to proposed law school

Sep 03, 2017 News

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The Association of Caribbean Students for Equal Access to the Legal Profession (ACSEAL) is sceptical about Guyanese law students having equal access to the proposed J.O.F Haynes Law School to be established here.

This is so since the school will come under the auspices of the Council for Legal Education (CLE) and will be open to students from across the Caribbean region. However, the ACSEAL believes that the rules of the CLE governing admission to the region’s law schools are discriminatory.
The treaty establishing the CLE, stipulates what grounds Caribbean law graduates can gain access to law schools in the region; particularly, the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad and Tobago, the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica and the Eugene Dupuch Law School in the Bahamas.
According to Article 3 of the Treaty, “Every person who holds a University of the West Indies LL.B degree shall be eligible for admission to the Law Schools and every person who holds a degree of a University or Institution which is recognised by the Council as being equivalent to the University of the West Indies LL.B degree, shall, subject to the availability of places and to such conditions (if any) as the Council may require, be eligible for admission to the Law Schools.”
This system places Guyanese law graduates at a disadvantage since only the top 25 students in the graduating year are allowed automatic access to the Hugh Wooding Law School. All other graduates are required to write an entrance exam that costs US$150 per sitting.
The ACSEAL is calling on law students in Guyana to pay keen attention to whether there would be any fundamental and sustainable reform to the CLE admission policy and the 1971 CLE Treaty which has adversely affected thousands of Guyanese and CARICOM citizens for the past 20 years.
Speaking with Kaieteur News, ACSEAL’s National Representative in Guyana, Courtlee Rodrigues said that “injustice in the legal system is a paradox that we cannot allow to be a part of our reality nor that of our children’s”.
Further, ACSEAL’s representative in Trinidad and Tobago, Jason Jones, said that the group’s position is that the legal profession is not merely a private vocation but rather, a public office.
“Consequently, we are against the preference-based system of admission to the law school that is now in place and will support a merit-based approach for all citizens of CARICOM seeking entry to the law schools and by extension, the legal profession. No Guyanese citizen possessing the will, skill, aptitude and character to enter the legal profession should be subjected to any unfair treatment in their noble attempt to do so.”
Jones said that whether a Caribbean national would have graduated from UWI, UG, the University of Technology in Jamaica or even the University of London, that person should be afforded an equal opportunity as any other student to acquire legal education and enter the legal profession.
“There is no way we can develop Caribbean Jurisprudence and the Rule of Law in the region by systematically and unfairly excluding our citizens from the legal system. Exclusion is probably the biggest problem facing our region. The relationship between people, power and public institutions in the 21st century Caribbean must become more progressive, sustainable and conducive to human flourishing. This is the challenge for our generation.”
Moreover, offering his comments to this publication, ACSEAL’s National Representative in Belize, Leon Westby pointed to an April 2017 commentary made by Glendford Howe, Senior Programme and Research Officer at UWI.
Howe was addressing the region’s education system. “Dr Howe stated: “Since the education system in the region was not designed to be inclusive, it is not surprising that, in the absence of fundamental reforms, it is proving to be unfit for education provision in a 21st century context, in which the focus is on democratisation of access, inclusiveness, equitable provision of education for all learners and addressing the individual needs of each student”.
Meanwhile, in Guyana’s neighbouring CARICOM states, other ACSEAL representatives have made their positions known. The ACSEAL’s National Representative in Antigua and Barbuda, J’moul Francis said that the work in his country is marching on with growing support. Advocates are also calling for the establishment of a law school in Antigua and Barbuda to alleviate the distress associated with the CLE admission rules.
According to Francis, support is growing at the ministerial and diplomatic levels. “Furthermore, the government is pushing towards the establishment of a law school here to serve the territories of the OECS (Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States) and beyond. As such, we endeavour to capitalise on ensuring that a policy of equal access becomes a fundamental principle in the establishment of the proposed law school.”
Further, ACSEAL’s Representative in Jamaica told Kaieteur News that the treaty establishing the CLE states that the contracting parties shared a common determination to establish, without delay, a scheme for legal education and training that is tailored to the needs of the Caribbean.
“With the establishment of several institutions outside of UWI offering law, it’s easy to see that Article 3 (of the Treaty) makes it difficult for the Treaty to suit the needs of the Caribbean which was its initial intent.”
Further, it was noted by the group that CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque had indicated that he has been advised that the current admission policy of the CLE which affords automatic entry to graduates of UWI to the region’s law schools, is discriminatory and ought to be addressed.
LaRocque’s comment was made on July 3, 2017 during a Social Media Interactive Session that was hosted by the CARICOM Youth Ambassadors in Grenada while responding to a question from an ACSEAL representative.
The regional group is an effort by past and present law students throughout the English-Speaking Caribbean that is calling on CARICOM to expeditiously address the issue of discrimination in legal education and access to the legal profession.
On June 19, 2017 the CARICOM Secretary-General was written to by the group expressing concern about the potential contretemps associated with the further erosion of public confidence in the administration of justice and the region’s legal system if CARICOM citizens are continually subjected to institutionalised injustice.
CARICOM responded to the correspondence in a letter dated August 25, 2017 referencing to a March 2014 decision by the CARICOM Heads of Government which mandated the CLE to complete a thorough review of legal education in the region to resolve the issues concerning legal education, including access to the law schools and the role and function of the CLE.
A draft report on this study is expected to be considered by CARICOM on September 6 and 9, 2017.

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