THE top 25 Law students from the University of Guyana (UG) have been cleared for entry to the Hugh Wooding Law School, under the automatic entry agreement.

This was confirmed yesterday by Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Mr. Anil Nandlall, who noted that the decision not to automatically place the 25 students at the Trinidad-based school had left students apprehensive about their future. The automatic admission was an arrangement that existed under a collaborative agreement among the University of the West Indies, the Council of Legal Education and UG. The agreement has expired, and had not been renewed for the year 2014, the basis for the controversial decision.
According to Nandlall, an additional 10 students who are non-Guyanese nationals graduating out of the UG programme will enjoy automatic entry to Norman Manley Law School, in Trinidad, or the Eugene Dupuch Law School, in The Bahamas, depending on which zone their territory falls.
“It was also decided that there shall be comprehensive review of legal education in the West Indies, and the modalities extent and financial implications of the same will be discussed at the next meeting of the CARICOM (Caribbean Community) Heads of the Government,” the AG said.
The decision follows a teleconference on Monday, which was requested by President Donald Ramotar. The meeting was chaired by CARICOM Chair and Prime Minister of St. Vincent and The Grenadines Mr. Ralph Gonsalves, Chairperson of the Council of Legal Education, Ms. Jacqueline Samuels-Browne QC, Head of the UG Law Department, Sheldon Mc Donald, and the Principals of the Hugh Wooding Law School, the Eugene Dupuch Law School and the Norman Manley Law School, as well as Guyana’s Attorney General.
Monday’s meeting followed the first response from CARICOM’s Chair to Samuels-Brown after the matter was raised by President Ramotar at the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM, during its 25th Inter-Sessional Meeting on March 10 and 11 in St. Vincent and The Grenadines.
Discussion on the issue resulted in Gonsalves’ letter to the Chairman of the Council of Legal Education, which said, “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.
“…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.”
The next CARICOM Heads of Government Conference, where this matter will be addressed again, is scheduled to take place at the Sandals Grande Antigua Resort and Spa, St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda, July 1 to 4, 2014.