KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 6 — Malaysia’s New Bar Course (NBC) is expected to be implemented in 2028, or by 2029 at the latest, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said.
Azalina said the timeline took into account the preparations required and policies that still needed to be formulated by the Legal Profession Qualifying Board before the course could be rolled out.
She said the board established the New Bar Course Task Force on April 27, 2026, to conduct a study and develop an operational framework for the NBC.
“The main objective of the NBC study is to develop an operational framework for the implementation of the NBC and ensure that planning to realise the NBC runs smoothly,” she said in a written parliamentary reply.
Azalina said the board and the task force were taking the necessary steps towards implementation, including preparing course content modules for the Conversion Course (CC) and Legal Practice Postgraduate Certificate (LPPC) programmes, as well as a question bank.
Other preparations include procuring a Learning Management System and Computer-Based Assessment system for the NBC, drafting academic regulations for the CC and LPPC programmes, and strengthening the board’s organisational structure and workforce to operate the programmes.
The board is also planning capacity-building for paper setters, examiners and assessors, while criteria are being drawn up for course providers seeking to conduct the LPPC.
The New Bar Course is intended to form part of reforms to Malaysia’s system for qualifying law graduates for legal practice, with the proposed framework covering conversion training and postgraduate professional preparation.
The initiative is being developed under the Legal Profession Qualifying Board, which oversees professional qualification requirements for admission to legal practice in Malaysia.
Azalina was responding to a question from Kesavan Subramaniam (PH-Sungai Siput), who asked for the latest status of the Legal Profession Qualifying Board’s implementation of the NBC and when the course was expected to begin.
