By Ariana Gordon

– Canadian study

THE Improved Access to Justice in the Caribbean (IMPACT Justice) in its final report following a survey of legal education in CARICOM member states, dated February 2018 has recommended among other things that law schools be established in Guyana, and two other Caribbean states.

“New law schools should be set up as soon as possible as part of Utech in Jamaica, UG in Guyana and possibly in Antigua and Barbuda, principally, but not exclusively, for the non- UWI LL.B. degree graduates whose degrees are deemed by the Council to meet the equivalency standard of the UWI LL.B. degree,” the report stated.

Additionally, the recommendations which stem from a survey conducted in Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago, said the opening of additional law schools under the aegis of the Council for Legal Education (CLE) as is presently constituted will not solve the problems facing law students across the Region.

According to the document, the establishment of additional regional law schools in the three jurisdictions under the CLE would provide an early mechanism for addressing the unsatisfied demand for access to practice law by the many persons who are holders of non-University of the West Indies (UWI) LLB degrees.

“It would also ensure that region-wide, the highest standards of legal education are maintained,” the report said.

Annually, approximately 25 Guyanese law students are accepted and admitted to the Hugh Wooding Law School (HWLS), in Trinidad to complete their Legal Education Certificate (LEC) – a pre-requisite to practice law in the region. This figure is pale in comparison to the hundreds of students who graduate each year from Trinidad and Jamaica.

“It is therefore recommended that as a matter of urgency, discussions be held with the government of Guyana with a view to establishing a law school that would be regulated and licensed by the Council in its new proposed role,” the report stated.

A PRESSING NEED
Additionally, the document states that the proposal to establish a law school in Guyana outside of the Treaty arrangements “only serves to underscore the pressing need for the Council to rethink its role and function, particularly given that other jurisdictions have also signaled their intention to set up law schools outside of the legal framework of the Council if the issue of access to practice law in the region is not addressed in a comprehensive and meaningful and timely manner.”

On Monday, Guyana’s Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams disclosed that the tuition for Guyanese students attending the HWLS has increased to TT$$97,000 or just over G$3M.

Students are still forced to find additional sums to obtain accommodation and maintain themselves while in the twin-island republic where the cost of living is relatively high. The report noted that the problems will continue to exist if large numbers of students continue to graduate from the UWI faculties of law with right of automatic entry and little space is left for non-UWI LL.B. holders.

Guyana is in the process of establishing its own law school, to be named after outstanding jurist Joseph Oscar Fitzclarence (JOF) Haynes Law School and is to be situated at the University of Guyana’s Turkeyen Campus.

The JOF Haynes Law School is being established through a Public-Private Partnership between the Government of Guyana, the Law School of the Americas (LCA) and the University College of the Caribbean (UCC) and will add to the existing options available to holders of a Bachelor of Laws (LLB), and who intend to pursue their Legal Education

Certificate (LEC).
The project comes after some two decades of lobbying for an alternative to the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica, the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad and Tobago and the Eugene Dupuch Law School in The Bahamas.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Meanwhile, Williams explained that Guyana’s push for a law school is also grounded in the findings and recommendations of the Canadian-funded IMPACT Justice Project survey. “So we are bolstered by that…We really need a law school in Guyana,” said the Attorney General.

The report also recommended that the CLE shifts its focus from managing law schools to a regional accreditation entity and licensor of law schools existing or to come.
In this way, “it [CLE] will be required to focus on the quality of qualifications as opposed to whether they are attained regionally or extra-regionally, an approach which is consistent with the globalized environment in which today’s legal practitioner operates.”

The IMPACT Justice report noted too that the opening of additional law schools under the CLE may be a stop gap measure while the role of the CLE is re-examined and changed.
“However, also as soon as possible, the CLE should commence planning to assume the role and functions of regulator, licensor and accreditation body of regional law school providers existing and perspective, following the Kenya and New Zealand models,” the report stated; a move which Guyana Attorney General welcomes.

It was also recommended that discussions be held with the CARICOM Secretariat, UWI or other regional organisations with regard to providing a temporary home for the accreditation body.
Moreover the report noted that in Guyana there are insufficient specialists in the areas of energy, law pertaining to agriculture, Intellectual Property, and Oil and Gas.

STATUS AND RELEVANCE
The objective of the survey conducted in 2016 was to consider the status and relevance of the current legal education system and the extent to which it meets the needs of the respective Commonwealth Caribbean societies, culminating in the crafting of recommendations designed to improve access.

Meanwhile, the findings and recommendations contained in the report have also received support from ACSEAL (The Association of Caribbean Students for Equal Access to the Legal Profession).

In a statement to the media, the organisation said it along with regional partners is impressed by the research and recommendations made in the Report “as it is suggestive of positive change regarding the now systemic and institutionalised problem of ‘Discrimination in Legal Education and Access to the Legal Profession’.

The body notes that the issue directly affects thousands of regional students and is an impediment to the further development of the Region’s legal systems and society.
“We remain sensitive to the fact that thousands of students/citizens throughout CARICOM are becoming increasingly agitated and disenfranchised by this injustice, and so it is imperative that our leaders approach this matter with urgency and diligence required for a speedy and sustainable resolution of this matter,” the statement said.

ACSEAL said it looks forward to continuing the dialogue on the subject with all stakeholders with the hope also that the July 2018 CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting in Jamaica will see CARICOM leaders deliberating extensively on the matter.