GEORGETOWN, Guyana — Work is about to start on a project that generations of Guyanese law students have been waiting for: the country’s first Council of Legal Education (CLE)-accredited law school.
On Thursday, Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC, toured the University of Guyana’s Turkeyen Campus with Vice Chancellor Professor Paloma Mohamed, attorney Christopher Ram, and other senior officials. Together, they walked the eight-acre site where the new law school will rise.
Nandlall confirmed that land clearing will begin within days. He noted that the architectural designs are already finished and had been included in Guyana’s submission to the CLE. Funding, he said, will be provided in the upcoming national budget, paving the way for procurement of a contractor.
President Irfaan Ali had first broken the news of the law school’s approval at his inauguration earlier this month, hailing it as a “long-awaited development” that would create opportunities for local graduates. “We will commence work immediately on the establishment of Guyana’s very own law school,” Ali had promised.
For years, Guyanese law graduates have been forced to seek places at the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad and Tobago, where admissions are tightly capped and costs run high. Some have had to abandon their legal ambitions altogether because they could not afford to study abroad.
With the new law school planned for Georgetown, students will now be able to complete their professional training at home while still earning a qualification recognized across the Caribbean.
Nandlall called the project a landmark for Guyana’s education system and the wider region. “This institution will not only serve our students but also help ease the pressure on existing law schools across the Caribbean,” he said.
