The Government of Guyana has completed a feasibility study for the establishment of a law school here, according to Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall.
That study was handed over to the Council for Legal Education (CLE), a regional organisation which operates the Hugh Wooding Law School in 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.
As such, the Council appointed a high-level sub committee “to move the process forward.”
The members of the sub-committee includes Nandlall, Justice Liesel Weekes SC who is the chairperson of the CLE, Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago Reginald Armour SC, Chief Justice of Belize Justice Louise Blenman, and Member of the CLE Jacqueline Samuels-Browne. Another member in the name of Dr. Lloyd Barnett, a Jamaican Lawyer will also be added.
Nandlall noted that a meeting of the sub-committee will be held shortly.
For nearly three decades, Guyana has been trying to establish a law school within its jurisdiction as law students are forced to attend the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad. However, only the 25 top law students from Guyana are allowed each year into the programme.
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 initially and when permission was eventually sought, it was denied in late 2017.
Back in September 2022, the CLE approved a new proposal from Guyana to set up its own law school. The CLE subsequently outlined the requirements that the country needed fulfil including the conduct of the feasibility study.
The Government had announced that the school will be established at the Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown campus of the University of Guyana.
