Guyana bats for increased admission for law students

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – The University of Guyana (UG) is calling for an increase in the number of law students from its law faculty to get automatic admission to the Trinidad-based Hugh Wooding Law School.

A government statement said that a UG delegation, including its Vice Chancellor, Professor Dr Paloma Mohamed Martin, and the head of the Department of Law, Kim Kyte-Thomas, met with Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall.

It said the meeting was to discuss the terms of a new agreement with officials of the University of the West Indies and the Council of Legal Education of the West Indies, for the continued automatic admissions of UG graduates into the Hugh Wooding Law School and other related matters.

According to the statement, UG wants the number of its students admitted to the Trinidad-based law school increased from 25 to 40 as well as “settling the number of non-Guyanese graduates of the UG law programme gaining entry into any of the three law schools in the Caribbean region, namely the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica, the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad and the Eugene Dupuch Law School in the Bahamas”.

The meeting also discussed the execution of the “new and long-term” agreement with officials of the University of the West Indies and the Council of Legal Education of the West Indies for the admission of UG graduates.

“[We discussed] the inclusion of the University of Guyana in deliberations of the Council of Legal Education on the issues affecting the University of Guyana. In respect of this issue, it was noted that the University of Guyana is one of the universities given express recognition in the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas and accordingly should be properly included in deliberations of the Council of Legal Education,” the statement added.

The government statement said that Nandlall, who is an executive member of the Council of Legal Education, gave an undertaking to attend the next meeting of the sub- committee of the Council of Legal Education and the University of Guyana on the issue.

It said he also expressed his commitment to moving these arguments forward and was also keen to highlight that Guyana was one of the few states to make prompt and timely payments to the Council of Legal Education.

The statement said that Nandlall also used the opportunity to “introduce the delegation to the State's new prosecutorial programme which seeks to build capacity and improve the proficiency of police prosecutors and requested that the programme be done at the University of Guyana.

“The attorney general explained that the programme will be annual and one year in duration. The programme will cater for approximately 40 students who possess a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) [and] will be trained to prosecute in the various Magistrates' Courts throughout the country,” the statement noted.

Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.