To enhance efficiency: Bar Council urges gov’t to create law school.

The Council made the plea in Yaounde February 23. This was during its annual meeting with the Minister of State, Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals, Laurent Esso.

Speaking during the meeting, the President of the Bar Council, Mbah Eric, also pushed for several other major changes in the country’s justice system, underlining that this will lay a level ground for lawyers.

Barrister Mbah in his statement also called for the amendment of the laws governing the legal profession, translation of court documents, an increase in the infrastructure needed for the good administration of justice and the institution of an effective mechanism to combat corruption. 

He also insisted on the need for Parliament to take into account the Council’s view when drafting bills and the necessity for an increase in the number of joint training sessions organised for lawyers, magistrates, judicial police officers and other actors in the justice system. 

Law school much-needed addition

On the need for government to create a Law School, the Bar Council president said such an addition is needed to give way for a better means of training lawyers and gaining access to the Bar Council. 

This, he said, should be more workable unlike the existing system which include organising Bar Council examinations to determine the number of trainee lawyers and lawyers who become certified practicing lawyers.

“…this brings us to raise the cases of many compatriots who, because they are unable to sit the entrance examination as advocates-in-training, which should normally be organised each year as provided for by law, go abroad to law schools…,” the Bar Council president said.

The existing system, the Bar Council boss detailed, is not only no longer effective but also fails to help the Council have access to the best of trained lawyers.

“Consequently, it is obvious that the current method and conditions of enrollment of the Bar no longer meet the requirements linked to the quality of training of candidates into our profession,” Barrister Mbah stated.

He recommended that the “state could therefore consider transferring this prerogative to another entity that could be a Law School within a well-consolidated legal framework”. 

Request for adjustment on 1990 Bar Council laws

Besides the plea for the creation of a law school, the Bar Council in its meeting with the Minister of Justice, also equally urged the government to effect major changes on the law guiding the profession of lawyers in Cameroon. 

According to the legal mind, the existing law which came into effect in December 1990, is now obsolete 34 years after, thereby making the practice of the profession in Cameroon very challenging.

“Take for example the current number of members of the Council of Bar, 15, which in 1990 was justified by the minimal number of lawyers, has turned out to be largely insufficient for a Bar that today has almost 4,300 lawyers,” Mbah said.

The current dire situation, the Bar Council boss said, may even get worst in future.

“…and the number will certainly increase in the years to come if we consider the number of trainee lawyers and lawyers who will be admitted to the Bar following the current Bar exams which have been launched, not failing to mention the direct enrollment of Cameroonian lawyers registered with foreign bars,” Barrister Mbah said.

Council salutes gov’t’s commitment

Apart from the several calls for the almost complete overhauling of the justice system, the Bar Council expressed gratitude to the government and the Minister of Justice for the continuous desire to better the sector.

Friday’s meeting with the Minister was the first of its kind in more than 15 years, unlike its required frequency once every year. This to the Bar Council is a step towards an even better direction.