The Law Development Centre (LDC) has initiated negotiations with the Law Council to explore possibilities of conducting pre-entry examinations for the bar course students twice a year to save prospective lawyers from waiting for long.
Mr Frank Othembi, the director LDC, said if the proposal is adopted, it will enable hundreds of lawyers who fail the exams on first attempt to re-sit the papers in the same year and if they pass to enrol for the course.
“We are concerned about the high failure rates but in addition to that, those who fail particularly during the pre-entry exams wait for a full year to re-sit the papers. We want to change this so that pre-entry exams can be conducted at least twice a year,” he said.
The director made the disclosure last Friday during the centre’s 41st graduation ceremony.
A total of 208 lawyers were awarded a diploma in legal practice while 282 and 10 got diplomas in law and human rights respectively.
LDC has been on the spot over failing academic standards and manipulation of final examination results, partly blamed on some unscrupulous staff who reportedly connive with students.
Some lawyers take five years to graduate after failing to pass some papers in the record one –year period.
Under the proposed change, students who fail pre-entry exams on first attempt will be able to re-sit the papers in the same year.
assenkabirwa@ug.nationmedia.com
SOURCE: monitor.co.ug
