THE proposed JOF Haynes Law School will come up for discussion today when the Council of Legal Education (CLE) meets with the government, and its partners – Law School of the Americas (LCA) and the University College of the Caribbean (UCC) at the Chambers of the Attorney General.

Once full approval is granted for the establishment of the law school here, the Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Basil Williams said that construction will commence thereafter, noting that for too long Guyanese law students have been suffering in Trinidad and Tobago.

At a press conference at his Carmichael Street office on Monday, the attorney general said that during the high-level meeting, a report on the feasibility study, the business plan and the building plan and design, which were handed over to the CLE, will be discussed.

The Joseph Oscar Fitzclarence (JOF) Haynes Law School, when constructed will be located at the University of Guyana (UG). The state-of-the-art law school is expected to cost $6M, and with the Guyana Government already securing the land, its private partners are in line to finance the project. Alluding to the February 2018 Final Report on the Survey of Legal Education in CARICOM Member States, which was conducted by the Improved Access to Justice in the Caribbean (IMPACT Justice) and funded by the Canadian Government, Minister Williams said it has long been established that Guyana should have its own law school. In that report, it was recommended that law schools should be established as part of Utech in Jamaica, UG in Guyana and possibly in Antigua and Barbuda.

According to the report, 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.

The Attorney General reminded that there are legal provisions that allow for the establishment of additional law schools to complement the Hugh Wooding Law School and the Norman Manley Law School.

“By virtue of Article 1 Paragraph 3 (B) of the Agreement establishing the CLE, it is inter alia empowered to establish, equip and maintain Law Schools, one in Jamaica, one in Trinidad and Tobago and in such other territories as the Council may from time to time determine, for the purpose of providing postgraduate professional legal training,” Minister Williams pointed out.

He said that with Guyana on the verge of becoming a major oil and gas producing nation, it is even more important now than ever, that a law school be established here. “We obviously have to be able to train lawyers in this area. We have to get ownership of the industry, of the sector. We have gas also, and we also have a green state strategy dealing with the environment, and these are all new areas that we have to train lawyers,” the minister explained.

That aside, he said that Guyanese students attending the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad continue to face many challenges, and a law school here would eliminate many of those challenges. “Of course our law students are punishing in Trinidad…up to last week several have come to me seeking scholarships to complete their programmes in Trinidad, at the Hugh Wooding Law School. I don’t know if you know but tuition alone is $98,000TT, that’s GUY$3M, and they still have to pay for accommodation, meals…It is difficult for them,” he said.

Chairman of the Council of Legal Education (CLE) Reginald Armour had reportedly said that permission was never granted for Guyana to establish its own law school – a position endorsed by former Attorney General and People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Executive Anil Nandlall, but Minister Williams on Monday maintained that it was.

Excerpts from the CLE (minutes dating as far back as 2002) suggest that approval was granted, and that the matter was actively discussed.

According to an extract from the minutes of the 34th Meeting of the CLE on September 2, 2002, the then Attorney General Doodnauth Singh (SC) had informed the Council of the country’s intention to establish a law school. A motion was then carried for a task force to be set up to work on the establishment of the law school, in conjunction with a committee set up by the Government of Guyana.

Additionally, minutes of the 36th Meeting of the CLE on January 21, 2005, revealed that progress had been made and the parties involved were considering a site for construction of the law school. According to the minutes, the chairman reported to the Council that the Cabinet of Guyana had appointed a small committee to consider where the law school should be sited.

“The vice-chancellor of the University of Guyana and members of the law teaching department had purposed [sic] that a new facility be constructed on the campus of the University of Guyana,” another section of the January 21, 2005 minutes read. It was last January 2017 that the Attorney General announced the launch of the project for establishment of the JOF Haynes Law School – 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.

The attorney general on Monday warned that if CLE objects to the construction of a law school here, the matter will be raised with the CARICOM Heads of Government. “It is an organ of the CARICOM Heads of Government, so it is a body within CARICOM, so the final arbitrator would be the Heads of Government if necessary,” he told reporters.

The attorney general is maintaining that there is “no real reason” why Guyana shouldn’t have its own law school established.