Feasibility study almost complete for local law school – AG

…says intervention of CLE Chairperson sought to expedite process

The feasibility study for a local law school is close to completion, as the Government continues to interface with the Council of Legal Education (CLE) for the West Indies, to get the ball rolling on the project which will revolutionise legal education in Guyana and the Region.
During his end of year press conference, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, SC, revealed that work is wrapping up on the feasibility study. This very study will be submitted to the Council of Legal Education when completed. Nandlall noted, however, that he had been hopeful it could have been completed last year.
According to Nandlall, the delay can be attributed to some data the Government has to acquire for the study. In fact, he explained that the intervention of the Chairperson of the CLE, Liesel Weekes, SC, was sought on the matter.
“I agree with you, that there has been a hold up. And that delay is largely attributable to the fact that we have not gotten, from the Council of Legal Education’s law schools, information that we have requested. And that are required to do the feasibility study,” Nandlall explained.
“Only last week I dispatched a letter. To the Chairperson of the Council of Legal Education, informing her that we have requested this information, we need this information and unfortunately the information has not been supplied. And I requested her intervention as Chairperson.”
Be that as it may, Nandlall noted that preliminary approval for the law school has already been granted. And he further explained that establishing the law school goes hand in hand with the Government’s efforts to make Guyana an education hub.
“The approval for the law school has essentially been given, preliminary. But we have to satisfy certain criteria and participate in a process, before that decision is crystalised. And that is the process we’re participating in. I believe the Council has reached the position that there will be additional law schools and one will be located in Guyana. But we have to go through a process.”
“The initiative to create or rather to establish a law school within the geographic space of Guyana is not an isolated one, and it goes hand in hand with Government’s endeavours to secure offshore universities and training centres, here in Guyana, in various endeavours and various education pursuits as well. So, its only part of our Government’s vision to create an offshore educational centre on these shores,” Nandlall also said.
For nearly three decades, Guyana has been trying to establish a law school within its jurisdiction. Land on the University of Guyana’s (UG) Turkeyen campus has already been secured for the local law school.
Under the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition Administration, attempts were made to establish the Joseph Oscar Fitzclarence Haynes Law School. However, the CLE was not approached about the project, and when permission was eventually sought, it was denied in late 2017.

AG Nandlall had previously declared that any law school that is established in Guyana would be done under the ambit of the CLE. This, he explained, would also allow the country to capitalise on the overcrowding at the other institutions across the Region.
Every year, only Guyana’s top 25 law students are able to attend the High Wooding Law School in Trinidad, leaving behind over a dozen students. Additionally, the high costs associated with studying law in Trinidad usually causes some of the students selected to drop out. The tuition per year has been estimated at TT$$98,000, which translates to G$3 million… a sum that does not include accommodation.
At present, the CLE-operated laws schools in the Caribbean are: the Hugh Wooding Law School, St Augustine, in Trinidad and Tobago; Norman Manley Law School, Kingston, in Jamaica; and Eugene Dupuch Law School, Nassau, in the Bahamas. (G3)