Dear Editor,
The Council of Legal Education (CLE) in the Caribbean celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Prior to its establishment, would-be lawyers had to journey to the United Kingdom in the bitter cold and at great expenses, to pursue studies in one of the Inns of Court (Middle Temple, Grays Inn are two of the well-known ones), but that costly and inconvenient exercise ceased thus paving the way for hundreds if not thousands to read law in the region and no doubt that is the reason why the region is flooded with lawyers. In the Caribbean law programme there are no dinners as required by the English training/tradition. Only Caribbean trained lawyers are allowed to practice in the region, but lawyers who qualified outside the Caribbean are allowed to practice in the region after successfully completed a six month training at one of the three law schools. There was a cut off period up to mid-eighties where English trained lawyers could be admitted to practice.
The CLE was created by the Agreement signed by the governments of Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and the Universities of the West Indies (UWI), and Guyana (UG). The agreement was penned based on an agreement made in 1970 by those countries as well as Antigua, Bahamas, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Christopher, Nevis/ Anguilla, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent. The Council was established in order to provide training in the Region (rather than in Britain) for lawyers wishing to practice law in the region. Its establishment came a year following the UWI Faculty of Law which has departments on each of the University three campuses. The CLE operates three Law schools. Norman Manley (Jamaica) and Hugh Wooding (Trinidad and Tobago) were established in 1973 and Eugene Dupuch in 1998 in the Bahamas.
I am proud to say that nearly all the Judges in the region were product of the CLE. Most jurisdictions including Trini-dad and Tobago, Guyana, and the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court have Caribbean trained lawyers as Head of the Judiciary. Sir Tapley Saton, QC, is one of the first graduates and he is now the Governor-General of St Kitts/Nevis. Incidentally, he was the first Caribbean trained Attorney-General as well as Queens Counsel. Sandra Mason (now Dame Mason), of the first batch, is now the Governor-General of Barbados. She was elevated to the highest office after her judicial appointments especially in the Appellate Court. Jamaican Denis Morrison, a retired Court of Appeal Judge, was a Rhode Scholar. There were/are a few Prime Ministers including Dean Barrow of Belize, Kamala Persad Bissessar, of Trinidad and Tobago, and Kenny Anthony of St. Lucia
I was in the fifth batch (graduated in 1979 from Hugh Wooding Law School). At that time UG only dealt with first year LLB programme and students had to complete the degree course at Cave Hill in Barbados. Now students can complete the full LLB degree programme at UG. Guyana’s quota to the Law School is 25 and steps are being taken for the intake to be increased. When I started to practice, the English trained lawyers did not readily accept the Caribbean trained lawyers. They called us CARICOM lawyers. It took some time, but we won their admiration. The profession was fused in 1980 when all lawyers were called Attorneys-at-Law. Prior, it was Barrister and Solici-tor. Today only a handful lawyers in Georgetown are English trained and they are all Seniors, I refer to Ashton Chase who is now in his 90s, Ralph Ramkarran and Eddie Luckhoo in their seventies. Like any other institution there were/are a few bad apples among the regional graduates – a few were/are engaged in corrupt practice, excessive drinking, gambling and sexual misconduct. A few were even prosecuted, but all in all the legal profession remains a noble one. In fact, a few Caribbean trained lawyers are lay preachers and spread the word of God. Guyanese jurist Aubrey Frazer was the first Director who headed the Norman Manley Law School with Fenton Ramsahoye as Deputy Director who was Principal of the Hugh Wooding Law School.
The CLE in the Caribbean has been in existence for more than 42 years and trained legal practitioners through the three law schools. The Council comprises the attorneys general, the Judiciary, the practicing bar, the Dean of the Faculty of Law at UWI, the principals of the three law schools. It comprises a Board with a Chairman and 12 members. The current Chairman is Trinidad and Tobago’s Senior Counsel, Reginald Armour.
Sincerely,
Oscar Ramjeet