Last Updated on Wednesday, 18 June 2014, 14:53 by GxMedia
The way has been cleared for the top 25 University of Guyana (UG) Law Degree graduates to gain automatic entry to the Trinidad-based Hugh Wooding Law School, Attorney General Anil Nandlall confirmed on Wednesday.
He said a decision was also taken for an additional 10 UG Law Degree graduates, who are non-Guyanese, to gain automatic entry to the Jamaica-based Norman Manley Law School or the Eugene Dupuch Law School in The Bahamas depending on which zone their territory falls.
The Council of Legal Education had in February barred law degree graduates from non- University of the West Indies (UWI) campuses from pursuing the Certificate in Legal Education because the space was insufficient to keep pace with the growing demand.
Against the background of the cramped and overcrowded condition at the Hugh Wooding Law School, the Caribbean’s top decision-makers agreed to conduct a “comprehensive review of legal education in the West Indies.”
Caricom leaders at their next summit scheduled for early next month in Antigua, are expected to discuss the “modalities extent and financial implications” of legal education in the region.
Guyana had once considered establishing its own Law School, but much depended on whether the National Treasury could afford to pay the staff hefty salaries on par with those at other law schools and also ensure that the libraries and other facilities are on par to sustain the quality of legal education.
The decisions were taken on Monday during a teleconference under the chairmanship of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister, Ralph Gonsalves. Others attending were Chairman of the Council of Legal Education, Jacqeulene Samule-Brown, QC, Chairman of the Council of Legal of the West Indies, Mr. Mohabir Anil Nandlall, MP. Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, of Guyana; Sheldon Mc Donald, Head of the Department of Law, University of Guyana, the Principals of the Hugh Wooding Law School, Trinidad, Norman Manley Law School, Jamaica and the Eugene Dupuch Law School, Bahamas, Safia Ali, General Counsel, Caricom and the Assistant Secretary General of Caricom.
