THE second batch of students registered for the Certificate in Advocacy and Evidence for Summary Courts and Prosecutor’s Course is expected to commence classes on Monday at the University of Guyana.

Attorney-General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, S.C., provided an update on the course while delivering remarks at the opening ceremony of the January Criminal Assizes and Law Year 2023 at the Victoria Law Courts recently.

He disclosed that some 20 persons have already expressed their interest in the course, but hopefully that number can grow to 35.

“We will train those persons and graduate them, again, free of cost, and then offer them employment in the system to bring greater speed and competence to the criminal justice system, at least at the level of the magistrate’s court,” Minister Nandlall said.

The course, which is open to holders of a Bachelors of Laws (LLB) degree and third-year LLB students, has been developed to equip students with in-depth knowledge of procedural and substantive law concerning ethics, the law of evidence, criminal practice and procedure, fundamental human rights and aspects of constitutional and legislative interpretation.

These and other topics to be delivered will be facilitated by legal minds, among them Justice Roxane George SC, Chief Justice (ag) of the Judiciary of Guyana; Justice Jo Ann Barlow; Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall; Ms. Shalimar Ali-Hack, SC, Director of Public Prosecutions; Professor Kenneth Benjamin, former Chief Justice of Belize; Professor Courtney Abel, former Justice of the High Court of Belize; Darshan Ramdhani KC; and Magistrate Dillon Bess.
Upon completion of the course, the graduands will be inducted into the Guyana Police Force (GPF) as sergeants before commencing their prosecutorial duties for the State.

Summary prosecutors who acquit themselves well will benefit from scholarships to pursue their Legal Education Certificate (LEC) at one of the region’s law schools. This will pave the way for them to become attorneys-at-law.

They will then undergo additional training for a period of three months to become acquainted with the rules, regulations and standing orders of the GPF, as well as the practical workings of Guyana’s Magistrate’s Courts.

This training will, in part, serve as an orientation for the prosecutors, informing them of pertinent information, including the GPF’s operational protocols, the chain of command, and how they are expected to conduct themselves as ranks of the GPF.

Previously, the Attorney-General had stated that he wrote to the Chancellor of the Judiciary, Yonette Cummings-Edwards, seeking her permission to allow these persons to “don the garb” worn by attorneys, as opposed to police uniforms, when prosecuting in the Magistrate’s Courts.

The graduands, once they become prosecutors, will take home approximately $160,000 monthly. Their gross salaries, inclusive of allowances, will amount to approximately $220,000.