The automatic entry of a quota of 25 eligible University of Guyana (UG) students into the Hugh Wooding Law School has been guaranteed for each of the next three academic years, after successful advocacy on the issue by the local delegation at the recently held 48th meeting of the Council of Legal Education (CLE) in Antigua & Barbuda.
According to a statement issued by the Guyana Bar Association (GBA), the local delegation, headed by Attorney-General Basil Williams, secured the guarantee after successfully arguing that a clause proposed for the new collaborative agreement between the University of Guyana, the University of the West Indies and the Council of Legal Education was discriminatory. This agreement was presented to the Council meeting for consideration.
The GBA explained that the old agreement, signed in November, 2009, which guaranteed 25 students a place at the Law School, expired in November, 2012, and for the next three years students were accepted at the discretion of the Hugh Wooding Law School.
It noted that the new proposed clause in the collaborative agreement, which could have placed the students in “a sea of uncertainty,” stipulated, “The Council of Legal Education subject to the availability of places and to such conditions (if any) as the Council may require, shall permit no more than twenty-five (25) Guyanese nationals to be eligible for automatic entry into the course of training at the Law schools operated by the Council for Legal Education in any academic year.”
The release stated that Barbara Reynolds, UG’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor, who was part of the local delegation, indicated to the other members of the Guyanese delegation that she was not prepared to sign the agreement in its present state and that there was need for revision of the particular clause.
As a result, when the revised draft agreement was presented to the General meeting on September 3 for consideration, Williams argued for the removal of the words “subject to the availability of places and to such conditions (if any) as the Council may require.” The GBA said this was eventually agreed on but a further revision of the offending clause, presented for consideration, still placed students in an uncertain position and the local team once more argued against it.
The revision that was presented stated, “The Council of Legal Education shall permit no more than twenty-five (25) Guyanese nationals who have fulfilled the requirements of the University of Guyana L.L.B. degree U.G. Department of Law to be eligible for automatic entry into the course of Training at the Law Schools operated by the Council for Legal Education in any academic year.”
It was noted that the acting Principal of the Hugh Wooding Law School indicated that there was a “problem with available space” at Hugh Wooding and there was the option of students taking up places at the Eugene Dupuch Law School in The Bahamas.
However, it was stated that if this revision was accepted, the Hugh Wooding Law School could tell students that it doesn’t have space and give them the option of registering at the Eugene Dupuch Law School where there is available space.
The GBA said Williams, based on research done by the team and presented by him, quickly pointed out and submitted that Regulation 4 (3) of the Council of Legal Education Professional Law School Regulations provides that application for entry to the Hugh Wooding Law School shall be made by persons ordinarily resident in Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago. He said if “space availability” is applied to Guyana, it should by applicable to all the other jurisdictions zoned to Hugh Wooding, or it would be discriminatory.
Admissions Board
Williams also cited the Admissions Board Report of August 19, 2016, which was presented at the Council of Legal Education meeting, which noted that the school may not be a position to accommodate any students from the entrance examination based on projections of 211 applicants from UWI, 25 spaces for UG students, 30 Year 1 students repeating and 5 students to be readmitted. “This already represents 21 students over the 240 at which HWLS has capped its Year 1 numbers,” the report stated.
This, Williams argued, indicated that the Hugh Wooding Law School has already catered for the 25 graduates.
Williams, the release said, also noted that Guyanese students always excelled at exams at the Hugh Wooding Law School and some appear on the Principal’s Roll of Honour.
He also asked the Council to note that Guyana has resumed its contribution to the Hugh Wooding Law School and has so far paid the sum of $17,855,500 (Guyana) dollars, which amounts to approximately US $87,000.
The National Assembly last month approved this sum to assist the students over the next two years.
The release said too that the Chief Justice (Ag) Yonette Cummings-Edwards, who was also part of the delegation, emphasised in her presentation to the General meeting the economic hardship it would cause UG students if they are forced to attend the out of zone Eugene Dupuch Law School in The Bahamas to obtain their Legal Education Certificate.
After much deliberation and with some support coming from the representative of the University of the West Indies, the Chairman of the Council of Legal Education decided to put the issue of the proposed change in the clause to a vote and Guyana succeeded by garnering the support of 20 members of the Council, with six against, the release said, while adding that there were about 4 persons who abstained.
As a result, the clause finally agreed on states, “The Council of Legal Education shall permit no more than twenty-five (25) Guyanese nationals who have fulfilled the requirements of the University of Guyana L.L.B. degree U.G. Department of Law to be eligible for automatic entry into the course of Training at the Hugh Wooding Law School operated by the Council for Legal Education in any academic year.”
Additionally, the statement said that due to the advocacy of the Guyana team, the Council agreed to appoint a committee made up of the Bar Presidents of Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana and Grenada to enquire into the reason for the high failure rate in the Course “Ethics, rights and obligations of the legal profession.”
A resolution, according to the release, was subsequently passed to authorise the Examination Committee and Committee of Review to permit oral examinations, pursuant to regulation 42 (2), for all students who failed the course, and to schedule remedial classes for the affected students ahead of the holding of those examinations, including distant and on-line delivery, where necessary.
It was also agreed that the Admission Committee would show lenience to applications for re-entry by any student who was required to withdraw from the Hugh Wooding Law School for having failed the course within the past two academic years.
The release said local law students are asked to keep up the high standards expected of them.
Other members of the local delegation were Gem Sanford-Johnson, President of the GBA, and Excellence Dazzell, Secretary of the GBA.
