Bridgetown – On July 31st, 2019, the Canadian Government funded Improved Access to Justice in the Caribbean (IMPACT Justice) Project hosted a public lecture to review the recommendations made in its 2018, Report on the Survey of Legal Education in CARICOM Member States at the Guyana Marriott Hotel.
The event was attended by: the Honourable Basil Williams, S.C., M.P., Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs of Guyana, who delivered welcome remarks; Her Excellency Lilian Chatterjee, High Commissioner of Canada to Guyana and Ambassador to Suriname and Ambassador to CARICOM who gave remarks on behalf of the Government of Canada and Professor Velma Newton, Regional Project Director of the IMPACT Justice Project who chaired the event and also delivered remarks on behalf of IMPACT Justice.
Also in attendance were: the Honourable Madam Justice Roxanne George-Wiltshire, Acting Chief Justice of Guyana; Honourable Madam Justice Bernie Stephenson, Judge of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court; Professor Duke Pollard, Former Judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice; members of the Magistracy; Ms. Sandra Bart, representing the CARICOM Secretariat; staff of the Ministry of Legal Affairs including the Chief and Deputy Chief Parliamentary Counsels; Mr. Teni Housty, President of the Guyana Bar Association; Ms. Shellon Boyce, President of the Guyana Association of Women Lawyers; Mr. Christopher Ram, Lecturer in the Department of Law, University of Guyana; attorneys-at-law; staff of the Canadian High Commission to Georgetown; the President of the Guyana Association of Law Students, law students and other interested persons.
In her keynote address, Mrs. Karen Tesheira, IMPACT Justice Consultant and Rapporteur to the Legal Education Survey Team gave a succinct overview of the results and recommendations made in the Legal Education Survey as they related to, inter alia, the current system of admission to the Council of Legal Education’s Law Schools; whether regional governments should continue to fund legal education; whether the role of the Council of Legal Education should change to that of a regulatory, licensing and accreditation body for existing and any other law schools which could be established.
