Those who follow my writings would know that I am a law student. Having been spending my 2 years of life in my lovely law faculty in UiTM Malaysia, Shah Alam had taught me many things on the legal aspect as well as the human aspect. Not to forget, political aspect as well.
First and foremost, for those who do not know the procedure before you are admitted to the Bar [the professional body that govern the lawyers], I am going to write here a VERY brief concept on how thing goes.
For overseas graduates and those who pursue law degree in twinning programs at private colleges, they had to sit for an exam which is called as the Certificate for Legal Practice [CLP] before they could practice as an advocate and solicitor in Malaysia.
As for local graduates [UiTM, UM, UKM, UIAM and UUM – but there’s a problem with UUM currently…], after they had finished their LL.B (Hons.) program, they need not take the CLP exam as they could be admitted as an advocate and solicitor right after they had done their chambering for the period of 9 months.
The reason for having the CLP exam was to ensure that overseas graduates would be familiarized with local laws. This is due to the fact that when they read law, for example, in the UK, they would read the Common Law. However, due to the rate of failure that is so high among CLP students, they [the overseas graduates] had started to voice out their dissatisfaction claiming that it is unfair for them to take the CLP when the local graduates need not. Plus, there are some claiming that the quality of reading law in Malaysia is not on par with the way of reading it overseas.
So, the government had now proposed to create a new examination to cater both local and overseas graduate. This is known as the Common Bar Exam. Its purpose, as can be seen by looking at its name, is to ensure that both local and overseas graduate would sit for a common exam to enable them to be admitted to the Bar. So, upon graduating, all graduates had to sit for this very exam.
Nevertheless, as a law student my self, I object to such exam. For me, CLP is needed for overseas graduates as they need to know at least a little on our own Malaysian law. They had spent their 4 years reading law overseas but when they intend to practice here, did they learn Malaysian law? No! So, that is why they need to take the exam.
As for us, local graduates, we spent 4 years in the law faculty, learning the ins and outs of our law. When we want to practice later, it’s the law that we had learned that we are going to use. So, what’s the purpose of having another exam when we had learned the laws of Malaysia for 4 years?
Furthermore, the way the law faculties in Malaysia conduct their law programs differ from one institution to another. For example, in UiTM, the course is done by using a 3+1 system. For three years, we will do Bachelor of Legal Studies (Hons.) Upon graduating, the graduates could choose either to work [as legal executives, legal advisers etc but cannot practice] or to pursue for another year doing the professional course. The professional course is needed if one wants to practice. The professional course is the LL.B (Hons.) and it is a simulation course where students will have their own firms, arguing cases as to prepare them for practicing in real world.
As an insider, I do think that the LL.B (Hons.) conducted in UiTM is the best as practicality is always better than theory. So, why should the student spend another year studying for the Common Bar Exam when they are ready to face the real world of practicing as lawyers? Besides, isn’t LL.B (Hons.) is sufficient to be the common qualifier for local graduates to practice?
Monday, 15 September 2008
File 29 : Common Bar Exam?
Posted by kairulizwan at 1:31 pm
Labels: clp, common bar exam, current issue, law, llb, uitm
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8 comments:
Hmmm no wonder your english is impeccable. You are a lawyer and I should have thought so. Good writings, wish I could be half as good as you.
izdihar~i'm not a lawyer yet. i'm still studying and currently i'm in my second year. there are two more years to go. so, do pray for my success! =)
I couldn't agree with you more. The way the govnt been treating the local grads is rediculous. Just cos these so called foreign grads felt that it's unfair - the govnt listens to them- it really sucks!
musidris~ yup... Graduating from foreign universities do not necessarily means that they are better than local graduates. As for me,local graduates are on par with them.
Please consider the fact that the law in Malaysia NEEDS to be more progressive. The CLP is a difficult exam with a low pass rate AND the quality of its graduates are questionable. We need to produce thinking lawyers as well as those who have practical knowledge regardless of where they've graduated.
Hats off to local universities that give their graduates such rigorous hands-on training. But to be called to the High Court of Malaya... Today, there is an obvious need for a unifying factor - so that the Malaysian legal body is a cohesive, well-structured one. Can the CBC achieve this? If not, why?
Foreign graduates do 3 years by the way, and the CLP is their fourth.
Time for people to step up and pull things together. In my view, things are currently a mess - different routes into the same thing - differing methods of training, result in different kinds relationships - making the legal profession a difficult one to navigate. There are pros of course, but this is one significant con.
What we should be discussing is if the CBC is well-planned enough to tackle the mess. Am interested to hear your thoughts.
Thanks!
i disagree with musidris, that the govt is treating the local grads in a ridiculous manner.
just to digress, overseas accounting grads have to take a professional paper and then the local MICPA paper before admission into Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) is granted. local grads just need to spend 3 years in an accounting firm and their membership in MIA is guaranteed. Quite similar to the law system, no?
but why so? since malaysian accounting standards follow UK standards?
as for law, let's not kid ourselves. the CLP (and the accounting MICPA equivalent) is to make it tough for overseas grads.
this notion will go on forever but i am of the opinion that this is a bias system. at the end of the day, those with quality will do well in the working world, not those who pass exams.
They try to make foreign graduates' life more difficult and miserable. If people do have a choice, sure they will opt for local university, but the fact is, there is insufficient places to cater for qualified applicants. And the CLP while being used as detterant had developed better quality eventually for those who fight to the end.
I fully agree with you.
Until now, the LL.B Hons of Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin is not so lucky.
The graduates have to face the CLP in order to be "qualified person".
VISIT: http://llb-unisza.blogspot.com/
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