–AG, Bar Association President among panellists

UNDER the ambit of Moot Court Guyana, the Mooting Committee of the University of Guyana Law Department has organised a symposium for tomorrow at 4:00pm in the Education Lecture Theatre (ELT), Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown.

The event is being hosted as a joint initiative between the UG Law Society (UGLS), and the UG Students’ Society (UGSS), with the aim of informing and seeking information from stakeholders on the issue of advancing “the Future of Legal Education in the Caribbean Community.”
Members of the panel who were invited to participate in the landmark event include Chairperson of the Council for Legal Education, Ms. Jacqueline Samuels-Brown; Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Mr. Anil Nandlall; acting Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Carl Singh; President of the Guyana Bar Association, Mr. Ronald Burch-Smith; and Mr. Christopher Ram of the UG Department of Law.
In an invited comment, Mooting Committee representative, Carmilita Jamieson indicated that confirmation of attendance was received so far from the Attorney-General, the Guyana Bar Association President, and Mr. Christopher Ram.
In previous years, UG law students were admitted in a batch of 25 per year to attend the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad. As part of an agreement between the UWI’s CLE and UG, automatic placements were offered by the Council. The Council, however, took the decision that UG’s 2014 batch, and onwards, would not be guaranteed any place at the institution, citing the need for capital injection into the Law School by the Government of Guyana.
Quite recently, however, a decision was made to uphold the agreement allowing for the automatic entry of the 25 students-at-law in the 2014 batch. The decision was made via teleconference last Monday, prompted by President Donald Ramotar.
The teleconference was chaired by CARICOM [Caribbean Community] Chair and Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Mr. Ralph Gonsalves, and included Chairperson of the Council for Legal Education, Ms. Jacqueline Samuels-Browne, QC; Head of the UG Law Department, Mr. Sheldon McDonald; 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.
Coming out of the decision, Mr. Nandlall urged that there ought to be a comprehensive review of legal education in the West Indies. He said that there should, similarly, be discussion at the level of the CARICOM Heads of Government meeting.
The law students, while recognising the decision for the 2014 batch as being a step forward, have expressed concerns since this is merely a temporary fix to a matter that could have lasting implications on Guyana’s legal profession.
The discussions will be centred on outlining short, medium and long term solutions that can afford future graduates an absolute solution regarding the completion of their legal education.

(By Derwayne Wills)