Chief Justice lambasted UWI law program

Article first published by Nation News

The Chief Justice has lambasted the law programme at the University of the West Indies (UWI), saying it was suffering from “intellectual attrition” and was only interested in “getting people over the bar”.

He has called for those at the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad and Tobago to “audit” the content of the LLBs (law degrees) coming in and applicants with “soft options” should be sent back to do other courses.

“If we’re serious, that is what we will have to do, but if we want to be the laughing stock we will continue on the path,” Chief Justice Sir Patterson Cheltenham declared yesterday.

“I, as Chief Justice, have to have a hard-nosed approach to what is happening up on the Hill and what I am seeing deeply troubles me because it troubles me for the future of my country.”

He was speaking in the Court of Appeal, as King’s Counsel Leslie Haynes, Larry Smith and Sir Elliott Mottley, along with Deputy Solicitor General Marsha Lougheed, appeared before him in the appeal, brought by the Government, against a judge’s decision which ruled that the Section 5A amendment to the Bail Act was unconstitutional.

His comments came after Smith threw his support behind UWI.

Noting that he was “deeply troubled” by the developments, Sir Patterson said the programme was not rigorous enough.

“The bar for entry does not exist. You walk in. And that is taxpayers’ money – yours, mine and others. It is a place that suffers from intellectual attrition.

“What I will tell you is that LLB programme is populated with a lot of super soft options to get people over the bar, to say they have an LLB,” the Chief Justice said.

“The programme lacks analytical rigour which people like myself had to go through to make it.”

He said important subjects, like Trust, were being “marginalised” and had gone from full lecture halls to sometimes a handful of students.

“Everyone had to do Trust, or at least elected to do Trust, because it was a foundational course. We passed the test because of the rigorous testing that we were given,” he said.

Legal cases

He noted there were law students and some young attorneys who were “proud” to say they had never read a legal case.

“And this is what troubles us on the Bench, what is filtering out. We’re not worried about the law school. Long before you get to law school you have to come with an LLB. I think the law school should be auditing where these people with the LLBs come from,” Sir Patterson said.

“You should look at what is the content of an applicant’s LLB and, wherever people have elected to do soft options, you should say to them, ‘Sorry, but this is a professional course. You have to go back to Cave Hill, or wherever, and do the following courses’.”

He noted the issue had consequences for the development of the country.

“Twenty, 25, 30 years, when all here have retired, when we are looking for replacements, where do you go?

“When you have to select from those who say they are graduates, when you’re talking about senior levels – Attorney General, Solicitor General, registrar, judges of the High Court, Master of the High Court. That is why it is such a serious matter,” he said.

“This is serious business what is happening up there and the public has to know, has a right to know, because they pay. It is the public that pays for up there,” Sir Patterson said, as he stressed it was not a matter of being popular.

“I am not looking for any seats anywhere but I will speak and if the Chief Justice cannot speak about it, no one else can.”