Caught off guard by sudden decision on CLP

Published on: Sunday, January 01, 2017

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By Helpless UK Law Graduate
THE latest amendment to the yearly Certificate in Legal Practice (CLP) examination registration has affected many law graduates, including me, and is hampering our dreams of becoming lawyers.

Previously, we were allowed to repeat the exam up to eight times through two registrations of four times each.

Now, we can repeat up to four times in one registration only.

The latest amendment takes effect immediately and retrospectively. It was announced on Dec 21, only a week before the registration deadline. Many of us have suddenly found that we can’t register for the next exam in July 2017.

I am among those who were not able to study law in local universities due to various reasons.

Thus we opted for private education with an internal or external law degree in Britain/Australia.

Once law students like me have graduated, we will not be allowed to practise here like the local graduates until we have passed the CLP exam.

We studied day and night, burnt midnight oil and sacrificed so much yet some of us still did not get through the exam.

The passing rate is low but we try again and again to pass the exam while most of our friends who studied in local universities have already started their legal careers, slowly chalking up experience on their resumes.

We have invested so much in our education with money from loans and our parents’ Employees Provident Fund.

Some are telling us to sit for the Bar Professional Training Course exam in Britain but where do we find RM100,000 in a short span? But this is our home, our land. Why do we have to go to Britain to get qualified as lawyers?

We just want to be lawyers in our country and make our parents and society proud.

Helpless UK Law Graduate