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• NST Editorial: Testing lawyers

©The Sun (Used by permission)
Down2Earth by Terence Fernandez

MY FRIEND Suresh still cannot understand how he flunked the Certificate in Legal Practice (CLP) examination last year.

Running the questions by his lecturers and lawyer friends, he feels he had answered the questions in the required sequence and applied the appropriate law.

He is not alone. Many of his classmates who did not get through are also perplexed as to where they had gone wrong.

“I did everything I was supposed to,” said Param, who wants to give the exam a second shot. “I have no choice. I’ve already spent so much money on it,” he says of the RM10,000 in course and exam fees that law graduates who want to practice in this country have to fork out.

“But I answered the questions in the same manner last year and they failed me,” said Rachel who finally passed after three attempts.

Then there is Uncle Yong – a self-made man who in his middle age “studies for the heck of it”.

“He comes to class and sleeps as he knows the subject like the back of his hand,” said Suresh.

Uncle Yong is a picture of determination as he is sitting for the CLP exam for the seventh time!

One is allowed to sit for the exam a maximum four times. However, in Uncle Yong’s case, he was given an exemption and allowed more attempts.

However, none of these guys are about to pop a bottle of champagne over the announcement that the 24-year-old examination will finally be abolished, to be replaced by the Common Bar Course (CBC) and Common Bar Examination (CBE).

As the saying goes, “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet” – though in this case there is a familiar odour permeating from the new scheme.

Granted that the CBC and CBE are more comprehensive in approach and test the candidate’s advocacy skills – something sorely lacking in the CLP which, like all Malaysian examinations, is purely academic and text book based.

From the little that has been revealed about the new qualifying exam, passing the CBE or ABC or XYZ, whatever you want to call it, still remains a matter for the subjective discretion of a panel of examiners.

The main grouse with the CLP exam is the lack of transparency in marking papers, as indicated by the remarks of the individuals mentioned earlier.

A low pass rate is synonymous with the exam, where of the 1,000-odd students who sit for the CLP exam every year, just over 100 including repeat candidates pass.

Undoubtedly, the CLP is a tough exam, but when top graduates from renowned foreign universities far more prestigious that our own University Malaya – whose standards have taken a dive where the CLP is concerned – flunk the exam, it does raise eyebrows.

Many candidates actually supported former CLP examination director Khalid Yusoff who was convicted of tampering with exam results
– increasing the passing rate, albeit allegedly for payment.

Of course, this sense of gratitude did not last long when the whole examination for 2001 was declared null and void because of the fraud.

Khalid’s case also brought out the ugly truth about the Legal Profession Qualifying Board – that there was a quota system of 30-35% in favour of bumiputras.

So, would the CBC and CBE – which are probably a conduit for better quality legal professionals in this country – going to go the way of the CLP? Will these too be tainted by allegations of questionable examination methods and unfair practices?

In an attempt to ensure that the profession is not saturated, will candidates for the CBC and CBE also be victimised – deliberately failed to maintain exclusivity?

The course and exam, according to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Zaid Ibrahim will be overseen by a non-profit organisation supported by the government, while the Attorney-General Chambers, Bar Council, Malaysia Qualification Agency and universities would provide input on the implementation of the new qualifying exam.

One has no quarrel with that, but it is the same AG’s Chambers that has vehemently denied any quota for the CLP, although the extremely low pass rate – especially for candidates who register and study for the exam at private colleges, as opposed to University Malaya – seems to indicate otherwise.

Which is why the focus now is to ensure that the implementation of the CBC and CBE will not be blemished by the same issues that marred the CLP.

Politicians and those who could be influenced by issues that have nothing to do with a candidate’s aptitude, must be barred from having any say in the examination’s pass rate.

Merit and only merit must be the deciding factor in whether a candidate passes or fails. Anything less would be going back to square one and casting a shadow over the credibility of the exam and the institutions entrusted with conducting it.

Terence who resumes his law studies after a long break is thankful that he will not have to go through the uncertainty of the CLP. He can be reached at terence@thesundaily.com

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