Guyana has fourth highest lawyer population in CARICOM

Apr 09, 2018 News

Guyana with a population of approximately 735, 909 persons in 2016, has the fourth highest population of lawyers in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
Guyana has an estimated 1,120 lawyers—one lawyer per 657 persons—with between 25 and 30 lawyers qualifying annually.
This is according to the Final Report on survey of Legal Education System in CARICOM Member States.
The Report is the result of a survey conducted between 2016 and 2017 by the Improved Access to Justice in the Commonwealth Caribbean (IMPACT Justice)—a regional justice sector reform project being funded by the Government of Canada—and being implemented from within the Caribbean Law Institute, Faculty of Law, University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill, Campus, in Barbados.
The Consultants Ching and Watson visited Guyana from 27th to 29th October, 2016 and held meetings with members of the judiciary, representatives of the University of Guyana (UG), a senior practitioner, the Attorney General and members of his staff and the Minister of Education.
According to the report which was released last month, the estimate of lawyers in the region between 2015 and 2016 is given at 10, 900 with Trinidad and Tobago raking in the most at approximately 3,000.
This was followed by Jamaica with 2, 642, the Bahamas with 1,317 and Guyana with 1,120. This was followed by Barbados with 972, Belize with 251. In St. Lucia there is an estimate of between 100 and 200 lawyers. In Antigua and Barbuda there is an active cohort of 138 lawyers. Over in St. Kitts and Nevis there is an estimate of 129 lawyers; while in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada there is an estimate of 100 lawyers respectively.
The report highlighted that in Dominica there is actually an estimate of 30 lawyers but 100 of them are on roll.
As for Montserrat, there is an estimate of 21 lawyers.
“If the Magee formula is to be used, the Bahamas, with one lawyer per 246 persons, Montserrat with one lawyer per 250 persons, followed by Barbados with one lawyer per 300 persons were the best served, or had an oversupply of lawyers, depending on the approach taken. And even though the lawyer population is in some cases inaccurate, Dominica, Belize, Jamaica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines could be considered underserved using the Magee formula”, the report revealed. It, however, noted that these figures are “cautious estimates” for several reasons.
One of the reasons stated by the report is that bar associations may not accurately represent the number of lawyers in active practice in a jurisdiction, or the numbers available as private practitioners to the general public.
The report added, “ Secondly, in some cases, there is no system for ‘pruning’ the Roll Books kept by the Supreme Court registries or even the Bar Association records to remove the names of deceased or inactive lawyers.
For instance, in Dominica, only 30 of a list of 100 lawyers were actually practicing in the country. In Barbados, 1,004 were on the roll, but 972 were practicing and in St. Lucia, where membership of the Bar Association was not compulsory, the numbers given as practicing were said to range from 100 to 200, but 508 names were on the Roll.”
Further, another reason pointed out, was that in some countries, those providing legal advice in-house were not required to be formally qualified and lawyers in government practice were not required to register with the local Bar Association.
“In addition, the consultants noted a wide range of paralegal courses being available, but did not have figures for the paralegal population. It is of course possible that some of the legal work done by young lawyers employed in law firms or by referral from senior practitioners, could be carried out by paralegals with different, and less expensive, qualifications. Although the Consultants met at least one senior practitioner who had been a paralegal, there is no formal route from paralegal to lawyer recognised under the Treaty, other than the possibility of mature entrant access to the law faculties.”
The report continued, “The UWI paralegal associate degree offered online or through blended learning is specifically designed to align with the matriculation requirements of the UWI LLB, providing a means of progression. The extent of a need for paralegals, and paralegal education, as an alternative career or an alternative route into a career as a lawyer, is not clear, although the variety of paralegal courses being offered in the region suggests that there is a demand for this.”

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