Prof. Ben Twinomugisha
School of Law, Makerere University
5 February 2014
Outline of Presentation
 Introduction
 Brief comment on the East African Community (EAC)
 Nature (state?) of legal education and training in EAC
 Challenges of legal education and training in EAC
 Why harmonization?
 Attempts at harmonization
 Conclusion
State of LET in EAC
 History of legal education and training in EAC
 Legal systems in EAC; accreditation
 University legal education and training
 Post-university legal education and training
 Continuing legal education (CLE)
 Judicial (education) and training
 Liberalization (commercialization?) of university legal
education and training
 Should post-university legal education be liberalized?
Challenges
 Looking back: pre-university education
 Liberalization/marketization/commodification of
legal education and training
 Similar challenges in EAC with regard to effect of
liberalization on quality
 Numbers, infrastructure, resources and materials,
quality of faculty etc
 Legal systems, language; Differences in admission
criteria, curricula, examinations
Why harmonization?
 Harmonization v. uniformity; minimum standards; no
disruption but enhance national programmes
 Dictates of the law: article 26 of the EAC treaty:
(1)Partner states to harmonize their legal training
(2)Establish a common syllabus for the training of
lawyers and common standards to be attained in
examinations in order to qualify and to be licensed to
practice as an advocate
 Establish synchronized legal education systems as a
strategy for enhancing capacity to meet emerging
needs
Why harmonization? Ctd
 Facilitate mobility of students and faculty
 Tool for improvement of quality of law graduates
entering the professional field
 Need to produce highly qualified students and faculty
 Instituting a greater sense of professionalism
 Stronger foundation in doctrine, concepts and
principles
 Development of deeper policy analysis skills
Why harmonization Ctd
 Development of strong writing skills
 Development of strong advocacy skills
 Development of a strong ethics sense
 Imparting students with theoretical and technical
skills and also enable them to understand the law
within its social, economic, political and cultural
perspectives.
 Cross-border legal practice
Attempts at harmonization
 Study on harmonization of the East African education
systems; focusing on primary, vocational and
secondary schools
 EAC regional study with a view to harmonize legal
training curricula and the legal and regulatory
framework governing legal training and practice
within the community
Harmonization: Admission
Standards
 Law schools: common written entrance examination
 Post university law training institutions: common
written mini-bar examination
 Admission to the bar: common written bar
examination
Harmonization: Curriculum
 Core subjects: to be studied by all LL.B students
 Electives
 Multi-disciplinary courses
 Student centred; problem-based learning
 Seminars; internship
 Clinical/practical work at university
 Practical training at post university
 Progressive implementation
 Bear in mind challenges: the resource envelope
Conclusion
 Harmonization is a legal requirement; Harmonization
critical for legal professionalism
 Student centred, problem based learning; imparting of
practical skills
 Challenges exist but are surmountable