ATTORNEY-General and Legal Affairs Minister Basil Williams will inherit a number of issues spilling over from the office held by his predecessor, former Attorney-General Anil Nandlall. One such issue is the admission of University of Guyana Law students to the Hugh Wooding Law School (HWLS). Speaking to this publication on the night of May 26, AG Williams gave assurance that the batch of 25 University of Guyana law students will be admitted to the HWLS without impediments.
“As I understand it from my predecessor, the 25 students certainly this year will be admitted,” he commented briefly.
Williams, who took the oath of office on Monday as AG and Legal Affairs Minister, was keen to note that the David Granger Administration would have to “look for a long-term solution” so as to ensure the continuation of Guyana’s legal industry.
The Council of Legal Education (CLE), which is the authoritative body for legal training in the Commonwealth Caribbean, had threatened since 2009 to cease the automatic yearly admission of 25 University of Guyana Law graduates to the HWLS in Trinidad and Tobago.
The CLE has been calling for the Guyana Government to pay an economic cost for Guyanese students attending the Trinidad-based law school.
Former Attorney-General in the Donald Ramotar Administration, Anil Nandlall, said in June 2014 during a symposium on the future of Caribbean legal education that the economic cost paid by regional governments amounts to half of the total tuition fees for students coming from the respective countries.
The then Attorney-General defended this decision which had seen Guyanese students paying in excess of $2M per academic year for their legal education training which runs for two years.
In an exclusive interview with this publication, Williams was asked whether the David Granger Administration would consider paying the economic cost to the CLE to ensure a long-term solution to the issue of Guyanese students admitted to the school. The newly-appointed Attorney-General responded that he does not want to anticipate what decision Cabinet will make [but] we will have to look at the whole issue in time.”
Williams could not say how soon Cabinet will deliberate on that issue, but the issue remains a priority for his office since “the semester has ended and the question of them (UG Law graduates) going to Trinidad would arise.”

By Derwayne Wills