– setting up law school, IMPACT Justice report high on agenda

KEY issues pertinent to the legal system in Guyana and around the region, including the establishment of the Joseph Haynes Law School here and the Final Report on the Survey of Legal Education in CARICOM Member States will be discussed when the Council of Legal Education (CLE) and Executive Council (EXCO) meetings are held in Guyana this week.

The EXCO and CLE meetings are billed for the Guyana Marriott Hotel from September 6-8, and among those who have confirmed their attendance are Heads of the Judiciaries, Attorneys-General, and Heads of Bar Associations of CARICOM countries, in addition to the principals of the Hugh Wooding, Norman Manley and Eugene Dupuch Law Schools. The meeting will be chaired by CLE Chairman, Reginald Armour, SC.

Attorney-General and Legal Affairs Minister, Basil Williams, during a press conference at his Carmichael Street Chamber, said the stage is all set to host the meetings.

“Preparations are well underway for both meetings,” he said, while disclosing that he will form part of the Guyanese delegation along with the Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag.), Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards; Head of the Bar Association, Kamal Ramkarran; and Robin Stoby.

Guyana’s move to establish the Joseph Haynes Law School here through a Public Private Partnership with the Law School of the Americas (LCA) and the University College of the Caribbean (UCC) is among issues high on the agenda.

The Government of Guyana and its joint- venture partners are hoping to receive the greenlight from the CLE to establish the law school here, on the basis that the CLE Agreement provides for such a move, and that earlier indications show that permission was granted.

The February 2018 Final Report on the Survey of Legal Education in CARICOM Member States, which was conducted by Improved Access to Justice in the Caribbean (IMPACT Justice) and funded by the Canadian Government, will also be high on the agenda.
This Thursday, the Dr. Lloyd Barnett, OJ, Lecture Series will be conducted by Justice Duke Pollard, former judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

The following day, the opening ceremony for the CLE meetings will be held at the Marriott Hotel, where President David Granger will deliver the feature address. Justice Cummings-Edwards is also expected to address the legal luminaries along with the Attorney-General.
Later that day, the Attorney-General, as host and Head of the Guyana Bar, will hold a cultural reception for the participats at the Umana Yana.

Guyana hosted the CLE in the years 1975, 1981, 1987 and 1994, and played a pivotal role in its formation in 1971, whereby it is party to the Agreement Establishing the CLE together with CARICOM Member States Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, the Universities of the West Indies and Guyana.