Woww..this must be an exciting news to those who are sitting for the CLP exam in July and to those who are still pursuing thier law degree and going to sit for the exam in few years time.
To those who are sitting for the exam in this July, you shouldn’t worry if you fail the exam as once the CLP exam is abolished then you may take the so called “Common Bar Exam” (CBE).
The de facto law minister Zaid Ibrahim announced that in the near future, all the law students, be it from the local public university or overseas university, will have to take the same legal qualifying exam. This is to maintain the “high” standard of the legal profession.
In contrast, I think this may not be a good news for the law students who is still pursuing their law course, as this will mean that they have to sit for another exam in order to be a practise law.
However, would this mean that the law course of the public university will be reduced from 4 years to 3 years? since, it only takes 3 years for someone to complete LLB in overseas university.
What say you law students?
Pls also visit eLawyer blog to read further on this http://www.elawyer.com.my/blog/2008/05/15/clp-exam-is-to-be-abolished/
20 responses so far ↓
1 serena // May 15, 2008 at 12:03 pm
i think this is a good idea…. but kinda nervous about this exam… whether it is as tough as CLP…
anyway, thanks for the information!
2 serena // May 15, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Law students in IPTA and IPTS basically are different. Students from IPTA know our quality well… And this exam will increase the competition between IPTA and IPTS students. Basically it is a good thing, it is a good idea, but is it FAIR for everyone? Hope to know more about this Common Bar exam…
3 nikyas // May 15, 2008 at 3:38 pm
good move! i applaud the decision!
4 Karen // May 15, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Hi..
Idea is good. At least law grads get to trained properly in the same standard.
If i’m one of the planning committee..i would have suggested them to use the Sultan Abdul Samad building or the old KL High Court..so nostalgic and inspiring.
5 Eddie Law // May 15, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Serena – I hope the CBE is not “written” orientated, more “training/pratical test” should be introduced.
nikyas – yes, this is another significant contribution from Datuk Zaid Ibrahim
Karen – I like the classical building too.
6 Reena // May 16, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Aaarrgh!! I’m sure whoever takes CPL exam will feel like this. I have a few friends took CPL and wasted a year. Hopefully they remove CPL sooner. Do you have any exact date?
7 Jie // May 16, 2008 at 2:52 pm
What I think is that if the CLP abolished, it will envcourage more ppl those who dont want to take STPM go aboad to get their LLB, it is quite unfair for those who taking STPM, because if you got money, no matter you are qualify or not, also can get LLB…
8 Eddie Law // May 17, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Reena – I don’t know exactly when but the planning task has gone into the final stage.
Jie – to a certain extend you are right but don’t remember everyone still exist at the same “back door” eventually. You know what I mean?
9 Jie // May 17, 2008 at 9:13 pm
I understand your first limb, unfortunately I don’t get your second limb.. can you clarify more?
10 Eddie Law // May 17, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Jie- I mean though some may get into law school “easier” than others but at the end if any one wants to practise law, he still needs to sit for the CBE as any other law students do.
Please read http://www.elawyer.com.my/blog/2008/05/15/clp-exam-is-to-be-abolished/ to have a better idea
11 Bond V // May 18, 2008 at 5:22 pm
i think it is a good thing. at least it will standardize the quality of the legal profession.My uncle is a lawyer,from what he told me,some of the fresh qualified lawyers don’t even know how to draught summons or statement of claim in these new days.Furthermore,Datuk Zaid Ibrahim as he was a managing partner in a large legal firm before should know this issue well.So,rest assured.
12 zakiah // May 19, 2008 at 12:25 am
The test should be made fair from everyone. Right now, the local law graduates are learning the procedural subjects (similar to CLP) during the final year. 2 semesters of procedural subjects. If this exam were to be taken by local students as well, it is reasonable that the course be shorten to 3 years so that it would not be redundant. Although to a certain extent overseas graduate feels that it is not fair for them to do CLP, we must also think of what is fair to the local graduates and not deprived anyone in this process of abolishing clp. Just my humble opinion.
13 Karen // May 19, 2008 at 1:15 am
haha it’s not fun to spend so much money doing LLB if we’re not in IPTA (due to limited space), especially those from middle class income and still has passion to do Law.
Sometimes people tend to forget the UOL external and the hardships they endure. 4 years of public exams! Goodbye to CLP if we can.
14 Bond V // May 20, 2008 at 2:25 am
i humbly think that the replacement of CLP by this Common Bar Course is not to balance the interest and advantages between local law graduates or foreign law graduates.One must not forget the main purpose of CBC is to standardize and improve the quality of lawyers,some people seems intending to focus on the issue of fairness between local law grads and foreign law grads.Please stop on the fairness issue and straight go to the point of improvement and standardization of quality.To become a lawyer is not just to advise ‘4 clients within 3 hours’,it involves matters such as understanding of the law,negotiation skill,advocacy skill and etc…
15 Eddie Law // May 20, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Bond V, Zakiah & Karen – thank you for your comments. What is true is that this new policy will create a brand new chapter of Malaysian legal history.
16 Vani // Jul 31, 2008 at 2:29 pm
HOPE THEY ABOLISH THE REQUIREMENTS TOO AS NO LONGER RESTRICTS TOO ONLY 2ND CLASS HONOURS STUDENT..
AND HOW BOUT THIS YEAR YEAR GRADUATING STUDENTS WHEN THEY GOING TO IMPLEMENT IT
17 aby // Jan 8, 2009 at 2:34 pm
when are they abolishing clp?
18 Diana Ling // Jan 11, 2009 at 1:46 am
Well….since Datuk Zaid is no longer in position, I think CLP exam will stay as it is for God-knows how many years more….
19 sba // Sep 18, 2009 at 6:35 pm
The new centre should have a robust name: The Academy of Advocates; Bar Law Institute; Institute of Advocates; Central Law Academy etc etc
Regardless of your choice of law practice, the ‘degree’ conferred should be “Solicitor-at-law” (to differentiate it with England, but sounds good too) and not some “Certificate” thing.
20 aishey // Mar 30, 2010 at 9:47 pm
i think it is not fair to local law students…we’re selected to study in local university….we need to achieve certain level to take law.we study about Malaysian law & common law…why we need to take CBE???local university follow all requirement that need to be followed….so, why local students need to take this exam???i’m really frust hear bout this…
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