Guyana joint venture law school a non-starter under CLE Treaty, Chairman says

Attorney General Reginald Armour, SC

Given the wording of the Treaty establishing the Council of Legal Education (CLE), a joint venture arrangement for the establishment of a law school in Guyana cannot be presented for approval, Chairman Reginal Armour SC said yesterday, while hinting that government will have to be listed as the only party before the proposal can be properly considered.

“The concept of other persons forming a law school and bringing them to the Council for approval doesn’t fit within the Treaty and that is one of the points we have made to the Attorney General, that his government needs to reconsider in terms of the proposal that has been brought to us so far,” Armour told reporters shortly after the 50th meeting of CLE concluded.

He made direct reference to Article 1(3) (b), which states that one of the functions and powers of the CLE is “to establish, equip and maintain Law Schools, one in Jamaica, one in Trinidad and Tobago and in such other territories as the Council may from time to time determine, for the purpose of providing post graduate professional legal training.”