Move to end law examinations monopoly

Uganda’s Attorney-General’s Office is working on a process to establish a new unified examining body to oversee examinations for law graduates, reports the Daily Monitor. The 55-year monopoly that the Law Development Centre (LDC) has been enjoying as the only institution in the country teaching the post-graduate Diploma in Legal Practice course may end soon. This follows a recent Cabinet sitting that approved the repeal of the Law Development Centre Act, which had given the institution exclusive rights to teach and examine the Bar course. In Uganda, no lawyer is allowed to represent a client in court without a Bar Course certificate obtained from the LDC. The National Legal Examinations Centre is to be established to examine the law students who would have sat their Bar course exams from various accredited institutions and universities. Previous attempts to open up other institutions to teach the Bar Course were frustrated due to the argument that the quality of lawyers who would be churned out would be compromised.

But Justice Irene Mulyagonja, the chairperson of the Uganda Law Council, has dismissed the restrictions as unhelpful, given the more than 3 000 students at LDC.  Weighing in on the quality fears, the Attorney-General, Kiryowa Kiwanuka, said: ‘This will not be the first place to do unified exams. They have to pass the Bar exams first.’ According to the Daily Monitor, Justice Minister Norbert Mao said it didn’t matter where one trained. ‘If you are worried about the quality, what makes the quality of a lawyer is the exposure to practice work.’ Frank Obonyo, the spokesperson of LDC, said there is a growing trend of liberalising Bar courses all over Africa and Uganda cannot be an exception. Retired Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki, one of the pioneer directors of LDC, said the huge numbers at the LDC should be looked into if fears about the low quality of lawyers is to be checked.

Full Daily Monitor report