HGP Nightly News – Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall delivered a passionate and unflinching address to Guyana’s next generation of legal minds on Saturday evening, issuing a sweeping challenge to aspiring lawyers to rise above greed, negligence and complacency, and to treat the law as what he believes it truly is: humanity’s greatest instrument for justice.
Speaking at the University of Guyana Law Society’s Pinning Ceremony, Nandlall wasted no time setting the tone. The legal profession, he declared, is no ordinary career. It is, at its core, the backbone of civilised society itself. “Since the beginning of time and man’s entry into civilisation, the human animal has been engaged in one ultimate struggle, and that is the struggle for justice, fairness and freedom,” he said, urging the room of bright-eyed law students to understand the immense weight of the badges they were receiving. Strip away the complexity of history’s greatest conflicts, he argued, and what remains is always the same thing, a fight for justice.
Without strong legal systems, Nandlall warned, societies do not simply struggle, they collapse. Anarchy, abuse of power, social disorder and economic stagnation are the inevitable fruits of a world without the rule of law, he cautioned, pointing to examples visible across the globe today. It was a sobering reminder to students that the profession they are entering is not merely a career path, but a cornerstone of human progress.
But the AG did not shy away from confronting the uncomfortable reality facing the profession right now. He took direct aim at what he described as a troubling wave of lawyers entering the field for all the wrong reasons, driven by the allure of money, glamour and social status rather than a genuine commitment to justice. “Lawyers have a far greater role to play in ensuring global peace, global prosperity and the advancement of humankind than money, glamour and recognition,” he said pointedly, adding that those who fail to grasp the magnitude of the profession’s responsibility are already doing it a disservice before they have even begun.
Among his sharpest criticisms was the dramatic decline in pro bono legal services for Guyana’s most vulnerable citizens. Historically, he noted, senior attorneys made it their duty to ensure that those who could not afford legal representation were not simply abandoned by the system. That tradition, he lamented, has been dangerously eroded. The poorest members of society, he stressed, are often those most desperately in need of legal protection, and yet they are precisely the ones being turned away. “My appeal to you here today is to ensure that we break that horrible practice that has developed,” he urged the aspiring attorneys.
Nandlall also raised the alarm over a surge in complaints against legal practitioners across the country, citing widespread negligence, poor communication and a shocking lack of professionalism that has left many clients, who paid handsomely for representation, feeling mistreated and let down. “People are treated like dirt,” he said bluntly, leaving no room for ambiguity about the scale of the problem. To tackle this head-on, he revealed plans to reform the Legal Practitioners Act, introducing stricter accountability measures and, critically, a mandatory supervised attachment period for newly qualified lawyers under the mentorship of practitioners with at least a decade of experience. Too many fresh graduates, he argued, simply do not yet possess the practical skills to handle cases independently, and the consequences for clients can be irreversible.
The AG also sounded a stark warning about the misuse of artificial intelligence in legal practice, citing disturbing cases where lawyers had fabricated case laws using AI tools. In a profession built on precision and integrity, there is no acceptable shortcut. “The law is a jealous mistress,” he said with conviction. “It demands an abnormal amount of time. It is hard work, but the rewards are dear.”
Yet for all his warnings, Nandlall’s message ultimately carried a note of deep optimism. Guyana, he reminded the room, is a nation in the midst of extraordinary transformation, and it needs lawyers who are equal to that moment. In a significant announcement, he confirmed that the Government will begin construction of a new law school at Turkeyen this year, signalling a major investment in the country’s legal future. He closed with a call for soul-searching and renewed dedication, imploring the next generation of attorneys to reclaim the profession’s integrity and ensure it remains, above all else, a force for justice.
