Sod turned for Guyana’s Law School

Sep 04, 2026 News

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(Kaieteur News) – Guyana has taken a major step towards establishing the first law school in the Southern Caribbean, with the turning of the sod on eight acres of land at the University of Guyana’s Turkeyen Campus on Thursday.

The institution, which will operate under the regional Council of Legal Education (CLE), is expected to ease a longstanding shortage of spaces for students seeking to complete their legal education and cater to a large pool of law students from across the Caribbean.

According to Attorney General, Anil Nandlall SC, the institution will cater to the demands of a bulk of regional students from the Caribbean seeking to complete their legal education.  Speaking at a small gathering of lawyers, judges and legal dignitaries from Guyana and across the Caribbean assembled at the sod turning ceremony on Thursday, Nandlall explained that the ceremony is a culmination of more than two decades of efforts for a law school to be established in Guyana. He stressed that the school is being established under the council of legal education so as to cater to students from across the Caribbean including Guyana.

“We are here to turn the sod for the establishment of a fourth law school of the Council of Legal Education. This is the culmination of the work, the efforts, the struggles, the dedication, and the cooperation and collaboration of too many persons for me to mention here this afternoon,” he said.

He explained that the idea of a law school to be established in Guyana, under the management of  the Council of Legal Education was birthed in 1996 at the meeting of the Council of Legal Education (CLE) and it was introduced by the then Guyana Attorney General, Senior Council Mr. Bernard DeSantos. “Attorney General DeSantos was carrying out an instruction of His Excellency, President Dr.  Cheddi  Jagan, President of Guyana at the time.”

Nandlall noted that the desire for locally based law school came as a result of great difficulties Guyanese students encountered trying to get into law schools around the West Indies. “The Guyanese students who study at the University of the West Indies receive no subsidy from the government unless they, of course, obtain a scholarship. And a scholarship in those years was not easy to come by. So, when the University of Guyana launched its LLB programme, one year used to be done here and two years in Barbados…And when they were seeking admission to Wooding Law School, they were basically told that there was no space for them, that the 25 space guaranteed to Guyana under the Council of Legal Education, was guaranteed to the students graduating out of the University of the West Indies.”

He noted however that since then successive governments in Guyana have made efforts to remedy the situation by establishing a CLE-managed school here in Guyana.  According to Nandlall, the current regional law school has not been able to cater to the demands of the regional students.

“For decades now, we have had University of London and other UK universities offering two satellites across the Caribbean, different programmes, including LME degrees. And for decades, even in Trinidad itself, has been unable to admit into the Wooding Law School Trinidadians who were not necessarily products of the University of the West Indies. So you had a long, a big backlog in Trinidad,”   Nandlall said.

He continued “…and then you had indigenous universities now being established across the region. You have the University of Jamaica. They run an LLB program. You have the University of Trinidad and Tobago. I believe they have an LLB program. And you still have the UK satellite centers running LLB programs. The result being that the law schools of the Caribbean, in particular, Hugh Wooding and Norman Manley, have for decades been turning away students…They have not been able to admit the number of students who rap at their doors for admission.”

As result, the locally based law school will bring relief to thousands of students seeking to complete their legal education.  “We were very careful in our negotiations not to ever create the impression that this is going to be an insular institution. It’s not a Guyanese institution. While it will be located in Guyana, it is a regional institution to serve the people of the region and to be administered by the regional council administering legal education,” the Attorney General emphasized.

He noted further it will cater to a significant number of students from this part of the region.

“We have two law schools in the Northern Caribbean, Norman Manley and Eugene Dupuch. But the bulk of the population of the Caribbean lies in the Southern Caribbean. And the demand has always been profound in the Southern Caribbean so the time is long overdue for there to be a law school in the Southern Caribbean. Why Guyana?  We have the population. And we are located in that geographic part of the Caribbean, where the demand is appreciably greater than in the other parts of the Caribbean. And we had to undergo a particular process at the council….A feasibility study was requested where we had to show how the law school is going to be viable are not viable for the first and second year, but viable as a long-term venture,” he concluded.

In her remarks, Chairperson of the CLE, Liesel Weekes lauded Guyana’s efforts to see its vision come to fruition. She asserted “The idea for the establishment of a law school in Guyana was first tabled at a meeting of the Council of Legal Education in 2005. And later we came together, met on several occasions between September 2024 and September 2025, so that at the meeting of council in September 2025, we could present a complete feasibility report, which met the satisfaction, ticked all the boxes, and satisfied the council without a doubt that this school was going to be viable, it was going to be sustainable, and it was long in coming. And we are happy, are truly happy to stand here with you today and celebrate the culmination of 20 years (plus) of effort.”

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• Council of Legal Education, Guyana's Law School, Law school, University of Guyana

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