©The Malaysian Insider (Used by permission)
by Steven Thiru
KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 — Calling all law students, academics, pupils, lawyers! How would the implementation of the Common Bar Course affect you? Here is your chance to find out and be heard.
Attorney–General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, who is also the chairman of the Legal Profession Qualifying Board, announced at the 16th CLP Convocation on March 28, 2011 that the board is considering replacing the Certificate in Legal Practice (CLP) with the Common Bar Course.
The Common Bar Course will set the standard. The Common Bar Course will be the single, most important development in getting qualified to practise law in Malaysia.
What is the Common Bar Course? It will be the course that will replace all other routes of entry into the profession. It will replace the CLP, the UK Bar exams and all other means of qualifying to practise law in this country. Every law student, irrespective of the law school they graduate from, will have to undergo the Common Bar Course.
Law graduates from Malaysian universities, UK universities, Australian universities or any university for that matter will have to pass the Common Bar Course before they can be called to the Bar.
When will the Common Bar Course be implemented? What will be taught in the Common Bar Course? How will law graduates be trained? Who will train them? How long will it take? What will happen to pupillage (chambering)?
All these essential questions, and more, will be answered at the Conference on Legal Education: Qualifying for the Bar — Standards Across the Jurisdictions on July 29 and 30. If you are a law student, a law graduate doing your pupillage, a law academic, in the judicial and legal services, a practitioner, or if you are simply interested in a career in law — come and contribute your views! Come and give your ideas! Come and be heard! Come and be a part of the change! Come and find out more! Come for the answers!
The conference will take place on July 29 and 30 at Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus in Petaling Jaya. For more details, contact Sumitra Penesar at 03–2050–2093.
* Steven Thiru is chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Common Bar Course.