Dap Mps Call For Solutions As Uncertainty Over Clp Exam Looms

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Law students who are supposed to sit for their Certificate of Legal Practice (CLP) examinations should not be left in the dark over the date of the exams, said DAP members of Parliament Ong Kian Ming (Bangi) and Teo Nie Ching (Kulai).
The National Security Council (NSC) has yet to indicate an exact date for the exam.
The DAP MPs have called on the Legal Profession Qualifying Board (LPQB) to be proactive and establish standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the exams to take place.
"The LPQB should propose its own SOP for organising the exams and for students to take the exam rather than having to wait for the NSC to decide the SOPs.
"As more and more adults in Malaysia are fully vaccinated, physical exams should be able to be conducted subject to strict SOPs," Ong and Teo said in a statement today.
Previously, the LPQB had announced that the CLP examinations for batch 2021 would be held between Feb 2022 and Apr 2022, subject to the NSC's approval, without indicating the exact date.
Ong and Teo said the Malaysian Bar Council and private higher education institutions should play a more active role in advocating for CLP students and the programme itself.
"Although these CLP students are not yet members of the Malaysian bar, a certain portion of them will qualify to be called to the Malaysian bar and will work for legal firms.
"There is no reason as to why the Bar Council cannot take a more proactive role in advocating for the rights of those who are taking their CLP exams.
"At the same time, a few institutions of higher learning which offer law degrees and also the CLP programme should also advocate for these students who have studied law and want to qualify to be called to the Bar as lawyers," they said.
Ong and Teo added that all stakeholders should come together to discuss a possible hybrid/online exams model for CLP, citing last year's amendment to the 2012 Rules of Court, which allowed court proceedings to be conducted online.
"Similarly, the LPQB ought to make sense of the new normal and welcome the possibility for the CLP examinations to be held online with safeguards such as e-Proctoring being implemented," they said. - Mkini

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