–feasibility study ongoing, AG says

ASSURING that plans to establish a law school in Guyana are moving ahead, Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall recently announced that land at the University of Guyana’s Turkeyen campus has been identified for the building.

The minister provided an update on the issue which has been circulating in the public domain for several years, during his weekly show, ‘Issues in the News’.

He stated that at the level of the government, a committee which includes persons from government, the private sector and the University of Guyana has been established.

At the level of that committee, a decision was made to have the law school located at Turkeyen campus of the University of Guyana.

He said: “The law school will be located at Turkeyen campus of the University of Guyana on I believe a five-acre plot of land that would be dedicated to that purpose.”

Additionally, Nandlall stated that the Council of Legal Education has asked that Guyana conduct a feasibility study to demonstrate the viability of such an institution in Guyana.

As such, he revealed that work has begun on that feasibility study as information has been requested from the University of Guyana and all law schools within the Caribbean as well as other Caribbean universities and learning centres that offer the Bachelor of Law programme.

In this study process, the Attorney General said that he believes the intent is to get an idea of the number of law students or those who have their Bachelor of Law degree but have been unable to get into one of the regional law schools. This will provide information on viability of such a school.

“All of that information is being gathered. The members of the committee have also been travelling to the law schools in the region and gathering information that they are using to prepare the feasibility study,” Nandlall said.
Further to this, he revealed that he recently attended a meeting with the Council of Legal Education and used the opportunity to update them on the progress in this regard.

Nandlall added that as a result, Guyana is getting closer to the realisation of the dream of being home to a regional law school.

However, the broader vision, he added, is to make Guyana an education destination and bringing a law school here is only one step in that direction.