PETALING JAYA: Law students have appealed for more time to prepare for their examination once the movement control order (MCO) is lifted.
Katiressan Jayaraman, who is sitting for the Certificate of Legal Practice (CLP) examination this year, said students would need two to three months of classroom learning to prepare themselves.
He expressed concern that if the MCO is not lifted soon to enable students to return to class, there might not be sufficient time for them to prepare for the exams. This year’s CLP examination is slated for July.
“We have been informed that the Legal Profession Qualifying Board will be making a decision once the MCO is lifted. We hope it will have the exams postponed to a more suitable date,” he told theSun yesterday.
Katiressan said online learning is not a good substitute for classroom learning. On the call to do away with the CLP exams this year, he said that it would be “too much to ask for”.
“If we do not have the CLP, there would be no way to measure quality and knowledge of aspiring law practitioners,” he said.
However, legal advisor Michelle Yesudas is of the view that the Common Bar Course (CBC) should replace the CLP.
She proposed that the CBC be made the sole entry requirement for all law graduates. Currently, the CLP only applies to law graduates from universities in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Students who graduate from local universities do not have to sit for the CLP.
Yesudas said the CLP is 100% exam-based. “This means it relies heavily on the student’s capacity to memorise, with little appreciation for the law, and with scant regard for the practical aspects of the work of a lawyer.”
