KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 — The announcement of a new format for a Certificate of Legal Practice (CLP) paper just two months before law graduates take the examination has prompted the Attorney-General to vow to take action.
Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali was responding to the last-minute notice of a new format for the CLP’s Criminal Procedure Paper.
“I am extremely upset about this and will be taking action.
“However, I cannot disclose now what specific action I will be taking,” he was quoted saying by local daily The Star.
According to The Star, the Legal Profession Qualifying Board posted the notice of its December 7 decision only on May 25. The CLP examination will be held in August.
Instead of selecting four out of seven questions in the Criminal Procedure paper as before, CLP examination candidates will this year may choose only three questions while one question will be mandatory.
A local private college’s adjunct professor, Datuk Baljit Singh Sidhu, reportedly said students were not told of the compulsory question’s nature and its weightage for the final tally.
He said the Legal Profession Qualifying Board has yet to provide clarification.
“The CLP examination is one of the toughest examinations a law graduate will ever face, yet they only got to know of the change two months before the examination,” he was quoted saying by The Star.
Brickfields Asia College managing director and senior lecturer Raja Singham said the board should have at least indicated how the new format would look like or the area for the compulsory question.
A CLP student reportedly said there are 30 chapters for the Criminal Procedure paper.
Law graduates from abroad or external law degree holders must pass the CLP in order to practise as lawyers in Malaysia.
The examination comprising five papers — Criminal Procedure, Civil Procedure, General Paper, Professional Practice, and Evidence — must also be passed inside four attempts.
The passing rate for the CLP was 94.79 per cent when it was introduced in 1984, but has hovered around the 40-per cent range in the past few years.
De facto law minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said told Parliament in March that there is no yearly quota for the CLP, and spoke of proposals for a common Bar examination for all law graduates.
The Malaysian Bar had in March said it will continue to try to push for a Common Bar Course for all law graduates in Malaysia.
