J.O.F Haynes Law School

UG law dept's operations for review - Vice Chancellor

While expressing his desire to make the Department of Law an independent faculty, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Guyana (UG) Professor Ivelaw Griffith said last Thursday that a review of the unit’s operations will be done as part of planned institutional strengthening.

Griffith made the disclosure while giving closing remarks at the Fourth Conversation on Law and Society, which was hosted by UG at Duke Lodge, in Georgetown.

“Many colleagues in the room are going to be approached over the next few months as we start an exercise at the University of Guyana to review our Department of Law. We want to be able to strengthen what our Department of Law does,” he explained.

Griffith stressed that his desire is to have an independent Faculty of Law. “We want to be able to look at what we do, how we do it, what are the resources needed to strengthen it, the scholarship, the Moot Court preparation, all the elements. So we have started the first part of the process …a self-study to understand who we are, where we are, what we have in the Department,” he said, while adding that the Improved Access to Justice in the Caribbean (IMPACT Justice) project, which is funded by the Government of Canada, has agreed to lead the review team.

It is unclear whether this move is part of the university’s response to government’s plan to establish a law school. UG has already allocated 10 acres of land to serve as the site for the proposed JOF Haynes Law School.

Article adapted from: https://www.stabroeknews.com/2018/news/guyana/05/27/ug-law-depts-operations-for-review/

UG agrees to host Law School

The University of Guyana (UG) has agreed to host the J.O.F Haynes Law School at its Turkeyen Campus and has since written the Attorney General, Basil Williams about its decision.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University, Dr Barbara Reynolds confirmed to the News Room during a recent interview that the administration “will make the appropriate arrangements to host the law school”.

The Attorney General recently reaffirmed that the construction of the law school is still on the cards after his predecessor Anil Nandlall raised concerns about the lack of progress being made towards its establishment.

Williams was however quoted in a local newspaper, Stabroek News that the project will become a reality once the UG identifies the land.

In January 2017, the government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University College of the Caribbean (UCC)/ Law School of the Americas (LCA) to conduct a feasibility study for the establishment of a law school here. During the ceremony, the media was told that the study will commence in September 2017 and the school was slated to come on stream by 2018.

But Nandlall during a recent press conference questioned whether the project is still being pursued given that neither talks nor progress is being made to meet those targets.

“Have you seen in the press, anything to suggest we are having a law school (soon)? … No real evidence is available that there is going to be such an establishment,” he questioned.

Nandlall maintained that he is extremely suspicious of the institution that is supposed to be helping the country with the establishment of its law school. “I never heard of an institution called Law School of the Americas but this person came and represented that organization,” he expressed, referring to the ceremonial signing of the MoU earlier this year.

Nandlall believes that law students are being duped into placing their hopes and aspirations into the establishment of the local law school. According to reports, the cost per student to attend the J.O.F Haynes Law School of the Americas is dependent on the overall cost of the facility, however, it will be cheaper than other regional facilities.

The school, which is to be named after the very first Coordinator of the law programme, in 1981, Professor J.O.F. (Joseph Oscar Fitzclarence) Haynes will most likely be built in the community of Turkeyen.

The facility is aimed at addressing challenges with limited accommodation that have been faced by local law students, who would want to further their studies at the regional law schools.

Article adapted from: https://newsroom.gy/2017/11/23/ug-agrees-to-host-law-school/