–Regional group petitions CARICOM Heads to address legal education woes

THE current admission policy and practices of the CARICOM Council of Legal Education have long been described as unfair, inequitable and discriminatory by many CARICOM nationals, and according to Secretary-General Irwin LaRocque, it is time these issues be addressed.

In an Online petition, the Association of Caribbean Students for Equal Access to the Legal Profession (ACSEAL) is calling on the Secretary-General and CARICOM Heads of Government to include and duly address the problems surrounding ‘Equal Opportunity and Legal Education in the Caribbean’ during their three-day meeting in Grenada.
According to the Association, “The policy and practices administered by the Council of Legal Education (CLE) and Caribbean Law Schools, particularly as it relates to CARICOM nationals who have graduated with accredited Undergraduate Law Degrees from Institutions other than the University of the West Indies (UWI), are unfair, inequitable, discriminatory, and lack transparency.”

For ACSEAL, “It is time for reform!”
Speaking on the issue on Monday ahead of the commencement of the meeting, Ambassador LaRocque said the issues concerning Legal Education in the Region are being addressed.
“I know the Council of Legal Education, at the request of Heads of Government, has done some work on it. I am very much aware of a consultant providing some advice on the way forward,” he noted.

However, recommendations by the Consultant must first go through several channels for review, including the Council of Legal Education, before being placed before the Heads of Government.
“The current situation where certain graduates have preferential access to Legal Education is something that needs addressing,” Ambassador LaRocque said, adding:
“I think any graduate coming out of our system, once they meet the qualification, should be considered for admission.”

He is, however, also cognisant of the issue of space, especially where the Hugh Wooding Law School is concerned.
The 1971 Agreement, which brought into effect the Council of Legal Education, was signed by Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, the University of the West Indies and the University of Guyana.
According to the CARICOM Secretariat, the Council was established in order to provide training in the region for lawyers desirous of practising in the regional bloc.

Its establishment came one year following that of the UWI Faculty of Law, which has departments on each of the University’s three campuses.
The Council operates three law schools within the region: The Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica and the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad, both of which were established in 1973, and the Eugene Dupuch Law School in the Bahamas, which was established in 1998.

“To be admitted to these Law schools,” the CARICOM Secretariat says, “persons must have first obtained a bachelors degree in law (LL.B). Non UWI LL.B graduates can be admitted to the Law Schools if they are successful in the CLE’s annual entrance examination which is held in July.

“Graduates from the University of the West Indies and the University of Guyana must then complete two years of study and practical training at one of the three schools. At the end of this period, a professional Legal Education Certificate is awarded by the CLE. Upon receiving the Legal Education Certificate an applicant is fully qualified to practise in the English speaking Caribbean.”
Persons who have obtained a legal education requirement elsewhere cannot be admitted to practice in the Region unless they obtain the Legal Education Certificate.