…But seek larger quota intake HWLS

By Svetlana Marshall

LOCAL law students, while pleased that 25 Guyanese would be able to have automatic access to the law school in Trinidad on an annual basis, say the agreement still leaves a large number of students out in the cold.

On Saturday, the University of Guyana (UG), due to the intervention of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Basil Williams, was successful in signing a collaborative agreement with the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the Council of Legal Education (CLE) paving the way for the top 25 Guyanese Law Students to have automatic entry into the Hugh Wooding Law School.

As news spread of the new agreement, students at the Department of Law breathed a signed of relief.

In an interview with Guyana Chronicle on Monday, President of the University’s Law Society Chevy Devonish said: “I join with each of the approximately 200 other law students currently enrolled in the Law Department’s LLB Programme to laud this development, as well as the persons who made it possible, including the

former and current Heads of the Department of Law, several members of UG’s administration, and of course, the Attorney General.”

He added: “The agreement accomplishes several things, the most important of these to my mind being a running agreement for the automatic entry of the top graduating LLB students into the Hugh Wooding Law School to undertake in pursuit of their Legal Education Certificate. In other words, the entry of the top 25 graduating students of each year will no longer be admitted on an ad hoc basis.”
With the agreement signed after approximately three years of negotiation, he posited that the law students can now focus on securing the required grades and finances needed to gain a spot at the Hugh Wooding with ease.

However, when the University of Guyana restarted classes two Mondays ago, 80 persons were reportedly listed as final year students. It means therefore that come next year, approximately 55 students would not be catered for under the agreement which attracts the same number of students as the old agreement.

According to the President of the Law Society, the ideal situation would be one where every student, upon graduating from university with an LLB is allowed to matriculate into the Hugh Wooding Law School, once they are interested, and possess the necessary fees.

But Devonish said he understands the situation at hand. “I understand that the team of persons who negotiated this agreement on behalf of Guyana indeed advocated for a higher number of students to be admitted automatically, but that this suggestion was not accepted. Despite that reality, I am of the belief that Guyana should continue to advocate for additional space for our students…however, until such a time, we will work with what we have won,” he said.

Under the draft proposal, Guyana was hoping to not only gain automatic entry into the Hugh Wooding Law School for Guyanese students but also non-Guyanese graduates. But the new agreement does not cater for non-Guyanese law graduates – a situation Devonish said is most unfortunate.

“I believe the entire student body supports an agreement that would see such students being availed the space that was proposed and more perhaps,” he said. He is of the opinion too that there should be no distinction between national and non-nationals as pertains to the amount of students who can automatically enroll into the Hugh Wooding Law School. “I believe that the Council should give them the same treatment by virtue of the fact that they study here,” he further opined.

Akesha Cave – a first year UG law student said she is excited about the future, knowing that the University and by extension the Government of Guyana were able to secure spaces for the top 25 law students on an annual basis. “We must applaud the key players,” she posited, noting that students are now more than ever encouraged to excel in the programme.

Vice-President of the University’s Law Society, Patrice Wishart echoed similar sentiments. He told this newspaper, that students over the years were “on edge” due to the high level of uncertainty which had prevailed.

“What the agreement does for us, is that it enables us to plan for the future effectively.” But he too believes that the agreement should have included a larger number of students. “While we are grateful for the 25 students we are accustomed to, we were hoping for something more, we were hoping that at least more local students would have been admitted,” Wishart said. The UGSS Vice-President was also disappointed that the parties involved were unable to arrive at a consensus which would have led to the inclusion of international law students studying here. He pointed out that there are international students at every level of the three year local law programme. “Foreign students pay cash up front, if we deter the foreign students because of the Hugh Wooding restrictions, chances are those funds will leave with them,” he opined.

But while Devonish and Wishart have expressed concerns over the number of students being admitted into the Trinidad law school under the agreement, Kristal Abrams – Mrs. of Moot Court Guyana said she is satisfied with the agreement, noting that the Attorney General should be applauded for a job well done.

She told this newspaper that the new agreement caters for the same number of students under the old agreement, and allows for competiveness within the programme.

“We are a doing Law, it has always been a very competitive course, and I believe that once you put your best foot forward, and you exceed, then you would be rewarded as one of the 25 who would be given the opportunity to go to UWI,” Abrams said.

In her opinion, those who fall short in the process should seek other alternatives. “Everyone does not have to go and complete their degree at UWI, there are other avenues that can be taken, some people can decide to do their masters, some people can decide to go and work, so it is not like the end of the road because you have not secured a spot among the 25. There are other things you can do,” she said.

Though the law students had differences in opinion, they all agreed on one thing: That a law school should be established in Guyana, contending that it would allow for a greater number of Guyanese students to vie for their CLE at a more economic cost.