Completed feasibility study on local law school handed over to CLE

Government has completed a feasibility study for the establishment of a law school locally, according to Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC.
That study has been handed over to the Council for Legal Education (CLE), a regional organisation which operates the Hugh Wooding Law School in the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago, the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica, and the Eugene Dupuch Law School in The Bahamas. Nandlall said the report was handed over last week, during a meeting of the CLE.
“They were impressed with the preliminary report. They expressed gratitude, and congratulated us for presenting excellent report,” he said.
He added that the CLE has appointed a high-level subcommittee “to move the process forward.” This sub-committee comprises Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC; Justice Liesel Weekes, SC, Chairperson of the CLE; Reginald Armour, SC, Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago; Justice Louise Blenman, Chief Justice of Belize; and Jacqueline Samuels-Browne, a member of the CLE. Jamaican lawyer Dr Lloyd Barnett would also be added to the sub-committee.
Nandlall disclosed that a meeting of this sub-committee would be held shortly.
For nearly three decades, Guyana has been trying to establish a law school within its jurisdiction, because its law students are forced to attend the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad, where only the 25 top students are allowed each year into the programme.
Under the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Coalition Administration, attempts had been made to establish the Joseph Oscar Fitzclarence Haynes Law School, but the CLE had not been approached about the project initially, and when permission had eventually been sought, it was denied in late 2017.
Back in September 2022, the CLE had approved a new proposal from Guyana to set up its own law school. The CLE had subsequently outlined the requirements that the country needed to fulfil, including conduct of the feasibility study.
The Government had also announced that that school would be established at the Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown campus of the University of Guyana.