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CLP examination director, Muniandy Kannyappan

KUALA LUMPUR: In the Certificate of Legal Practice (CLP) examination results announced last Thursday, November 20, 84.62% or 110 out of 130 candidates who sat for the October supplementary examination passed.

With this, it means an overall of 45.54% or 286 of the 628 candidates who registered for the main and supplementary examinations respectively in July and October this year achieved a clear pass. 3.34% or 20 of the candidates obtained a conditional pass whilst 51.12% or 321 of the 628 candidates failed.

The 2008 examination results are comparatively better than the results in previous years when the percentage of passing was 35.67% in 2005; 26.24% in 2006 and 36.52% in 2007.

In a set of Q&As released to the Web Reporter today, CLP examination director, Muniandy Kannyappan stressed that it is crystal clear that the Legal Profession Qualifying Board does not have any racial quota in mind when it endorses the results of the CLP examination.

"The whole CLP examination is based on one factor alone and that is merit and nothing else", said Muniandy.

Muniandy added that the CLP examination is not a test of memory function by the candidates, and those who failed were mainly those who had resorted to regurgitating information which they had memorised; thereby failing to identify the legal and procedural issues raised in the examination questions and apply to them.

"More often the candidates have embarked on an academic exercise of a discourse on the law which is totally unrelated to legal practice. This has disabled the marker from awarding them a pass mark as the candidates fail to reach an acceptable standard for them to pass the examination so as to enable them to enter into the legal profession to practise," stressed Muniandy.

The main CLP examination which comprises 5 papers is held in July every year. Those who obtain conditional pass, that is, a fail in one paper can re-sit for the referred paper in a supplementary examination in October, and such candidates are only entitled to two attempts on the referred paper. If they still fail after two attempts on the referred paper or they fail more than one paper in the main examination, the said candidate will then have to re-sit for the entire CLP examination. Unlike earlier years, there is currently no restriction on the number of attempts for the CLP examination save in that a candidate is required to re-register and pay the examination fees of RM4,000 if he chooses to sit again after four failed attempts.

In the July examination which commenced on 14 July, the massive traffic jams caused by police roadblocks wreaked havoc among the candidates who sat for the Civil Procedure paper on that day. However, according to Muniandy, only 5 were late on that day and they were allowed to sit for the paper. Altogether, Muniandy revealed that 611 candidates turned up on July 14.

Interestingly, 67.10% or 410 of the 611 candidates who sat for the Civil Procedure paper passed. The results also revealed that candidates performed badly in the Professional Practice paper which comprises practical subjects on advocacy and duties of counsel; ethics of the legal profession, land law and land dealings, bankruptcy and winding up and administration of estates.

The passing rates for the other four papers are as follows:

General Paper: 66.34% (406 of the 612 candidates who sat for this paper)

Criminal procedure: 71.21% (428 of the 601 candidates who sat for this paper.)

Evidence: 69.62% (417 of the 599 candidates who sat for this paper.)

Professional Practice: 52.68% (315 of the 598 candidates who sat for this paper.)

The overall CLP examination results for 2008 are as follows:

1. Percentage of passes for July 2008 Examination (Main Examination)

2. Percentage of passes for October 2008 Examination (Supplementary)

3. Overall percentage of passes for 2008 Examination

*1 candidate not eligible to sit for Supplementary Examination

FAQS

Before the results of the main examination were released the following report in the form of Question and Answer had been sent to the “The Star” for publication by the office of the Director of the CLP examination. The Director of the CLP Examination Mr. Muniandy Kannyappan had the occasion to speak to Ms Shaila Koshy of the “The Star” on the matter. Excerpts of this report were published in the “The Star” on Wednesday 24 September 2008 titled “CLP exam candidates ‘judged on their knowledge and merit’.”

What is the aim of the CLP examination?

The CLP examination is another gateway for legal practice in Malaysia. It is a professional examination designed to gauge whether candidates have reached an acceptable degree of competency to enable them to enter into the legal profession to practice. Thus candidates must be able to identify legal issues raised in the examination questions and advice on an appropriate legal recourse without going into an academic exercise or a discourse on the law.

Do you set the questions for the examination?

I do not set the questions. The conduct of the examination is the effort of a group of senior legal practitioners. They comprise retired and serving Judges of the Superior Courts, senior legal practitioners from the Malaysian Bar, officers from the Judicial and Legal Service.

What is the criterion adopted by the paper setters for the CLP examination?

As the primary aim of the examination is to equip candidates for legal practice the questions set are in the main current, relevant and applicable to legal practice.

What is then your role as the Director of the CLP Examination?

I will ensure that the questions set are not to trick candidates. The questions set ought to be unambiguous, comprehensible and precise. The accuracy of the questions is also ensured during the translation of those questions to Bahasa Melayu by our experts at the Drafting Division of the Attorney General’s Chambers.

The paramount consideration is always that the issues covered by the questions are in fact issues current and relevant to legal practice. I will also ensure that the questions set and the legal issues covered for the CLP examination are in accord with the Subject Outline for each of the CLP subject prepared by the LPQB for the candidates.

Before the questions are sent for printing it is referred to a moderator who is also a Board Member. This is also to ensure that the questions set are current and relevant for purposes of legal practice. The moderator when moderating those questions will also ascertain the clarity and accuracy of the questions set for the CLP examination.

Apart from that my duty is also to ensure that the questions set are not susceptible to any form of leakage. There is in place a rigorous mechanism for the security and safekeeping of the questions from the point of inception of the questions until the examination. The number of personnel involved in the process is kept to a minimum. The secured seal of the examination questions is only broken on the day of the examination of each subject and it is religiously preceded by an announcement by the Chief Invigilator during the examination.

Hence it is only the Paper setter, Director of CLP examination, clerk who assists in the typing of the questions, translator, moderator and printer who prints the questions who have sight of the questions before the examination and not anyone else. At all times the prime concern of the office of the Director of the CLP examination is the integrity of the examination.

What is the process involved after the examination?

Once the examination is over there will be a meeting of the Paper setter, markers and the Director. Apart from distributing the answer scripts, the answer scheme prepared by the setter will be tabled and discussed. Discussion will also ensue on the breakdown of marks, if necessary depending on the importance of the legal issues concerning a particular question. The breakdown is as a rule fair and accords with the complexity of the issues involved.

At that meeting the markers are emphatically informed that the LPQB does not seek to fail any candidate and the scripts are to be marked purely on the candidate’s knowledge and merit is the only criteria. As long as the candidates are:

• able to identify the issues of legal practice involved in a question;

• able to apply the relevant law and/or procedure to the issues identified;

• able to explore the legal issues with legal reasoning and analysis;

then they ought to be given marks. In that respect the markers are reminded that the answer scheme is just a guide as it is not cast in stone and the markers are allowed to use their discretion when marking the scripts. The rationale for this procedure is that benefit must always be given to the candidate who is able to answer the question. In that regard it is also ensured that candidates who have answered illegibly are not penalized but attempts are genuinely made to ascertain what is written if not by the marker by another marker.

The setters and markers do not know the names of candidates as only the index number of the candidate appears on the answer scripts. They are also reminded that the examination is solely merit based. This in fact negates any form of notion that there is a quota system practiced by the LPQB. We reiterate that the system put in place do not allow for it at all.

What happens after that?

The LPQB’s foremost consideration is the integrity of the examination and it always acts in the interest of the candidates. It had decided that candidates who score 35% to 39% are entitled to have their answer scripts remarked by a second marker. This again ensures that the candidate is in fact given a chance to pass the examination (the passing mark being 40%) of that subject if he or she deserves so. The marks given are not erasable as the first marker marks in red ink and the second marker marks in green ink.

To ensure that the marks tally, the marks given by the markers for all the questions answered by the candidate is counted again by the staff of the office of the LPQB. They will recount the marks given by the markers to ensure its accuracy. This will also ensure that the marks are not left miscounted or not counted at all. If any mistakes are detected as to the counting of the marks the answer scripts are sent back to the markers responsible to be corrected with an endorsement by them that it is accurate. As such there is no alteration of marks by the office of the Director of the CLP examination.

When the answer scripts are sent for remarking, there will be two (2) sets of marks. The best of the marks is given to the candidate. The test is truly for the benefit of the candidate and it is never the LPQB’s intention to go out of the way to fail them.

A second meeting with the setters and markers for all the five (5) CLP subjects is held wherein the marks given by the markers are tabled for a discussion. A discussion will ensue as to the fairness of the questions posed in the examination, the answers offered by the candidates, the quality and accuracy of the answers, the trend of performance of the candidates. This is pertinent for the following reasons:

• to enable the Chief Paper setter to put up an examiner’s report to the LPQB;

• to improve on the questions if necessary for the examination in future;

• to insist that everything is done above board and there is transparency ensured in the conduct of the examination and marking of the answer scripts in particular;

• the foremost consideration is to maintain the integrity of the CLP examination conducted by the LPQB.

Is there another authority which checks on the marks before it reaches the LPQB for its endorsement?

There will be a meeting by a Committee of Examiners. This Committee comprises the Director of the CLP examination, Moderator (who is a Board Member) and the Chief Paper setter for each subject of the CLP examination. This Committee performs an important function by combing through the Master List, without the names of candidates, in detail and making recommendations to the LPQB on the results.

This is an onerous duty to be performed by the members of the Committee. The recommendation to pass a candidate is made in accordance with the guidelines already set by the LPQB. The criterion for recommendation is always the overall performance of the candidate in the whole examination. In this regard the Committee is candid, open and transparent when they make the recommendation. The premise of the recommendation is again to pass a candidate if he or she deserves so after according due consideration to the overall performance by the candidate.

It is iterated that when the Committee goes through the results of each and every candidate, none of the Committee members including the Director know who the candidates are as they are referred to only by their index number. Thus the identity of the candidates is not revealed. So it is an impossibility to manipulate the results. The recommendation by the Committee in accordance with the guidelines has always been for a candidate to be given a pass or a conditional pass and nothing less.

How will then the LPQB deal with the results?

The LPQB finally sits to decide on the results. A Board paper is prepared by the office of the Director of the CLP examination which is tabled together with a Master List of the marks of candidates. At this stage the name of candidates are revealed to the LPQB for the first time.

• The LPQB at all times will agree to the recommendations made by the Committee of Examiners, so long it meets the LPQB guidelines.

• The LPQB is always magnanimous in allowing a candidate to pass the examination in order to enable him to enter the legal profession to practice. This negates any form of notion that the LPQB is all out to fail a candidate of the CLP examination. The decision by the LPQB is always merit based and not on anything else.

• The LPQB leans towards allowing candidates to pass the examination (for example where they have fallen short in one paper) where the circumstance merit it.

• It makes no reference to the identity of the candidates in terms of race.

• It also makes no reference to percentage of passes. Results tabled are left as it is according to the marks awarded by the markers which has been examined by the Committee of Examiners.

• It is also heedful to the report put forward by the Chief Paper Setter for each of the CLP subject who states in no uncertain terms that the answer scripts are marked to a standard consistent with the requirement for a person to practice as a qualified lawyer which is the very purpose of the CLP examination.

• The results are then released.

For several years there have been many criticisms hurled at the conduct of the CLP examination and the results of the examination. Amongst the criticisms are that candidates are failed on purpose, there is a racial quota to be met hence the percentage of passes is always low and also that although the examination is to equip candidates for legal practice but it turns out to be test of the candidates’ memory function. What is your comment?

From my answers it is crystal clear that the LPQB does not have any racial quota in mind when it endorses the results of the CLP examination. It takes the marks given by markers who are legal experts in their respective field as it is. The marks are then subjected to curial scrutiny thorough the various process which I have adverted to. The whole CLP examination is only based on one factor and it is MERIT and nothing else.

The examination is not a test of memory function by the candidates. It is the candidates who resort to regurgitation of information memorized by them. Those who fail are just unable to identify the legal and procedural issues raised in the examination questions and deal with them directly. More often the candidates have embarked on an academic exercise of a discourse on the law which is totally unrelated to legal practice. This has disabled the marker from awarding them a pass mark as the candidates fail to reach an acceptable standard for them to pass the examination so as to enable them to enter into the legal profession to practice.

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