Bill submitted proposing amendments aimed to address discrepancies in law on bar exam

Vilimale’ MP Ahmed Usham has submitted a bill to the parliament proposing amendments to the Legal Profession Act in order to address discrepancies arising with respect to the bar exam.

A statement released by Maldives National Party (MNP), which MP Usham belongs to, read that the purpose of the bill was to solve the discrepancies within the law with respect to the bar exam.

In this regard, the bill proposes two amendments to the Legal Profession Act; one being providing meaning to the article which stipulates that all lawyers who had been granted license to practice under the law have been granted license to practice under the condition that they will sit for the ‘First bar exam of the Bar Council’.

MNP’s statement underscored that sitting for the bar exam was obligation created by the law, perquisite to being sworn in as lawyer. Therewith, the party stressed that failure to sit for exam by many lawyers who have been granted license to practice by the Bar Council in 2020 may lead to situation where their permits are dismissed.

As per the party, failure to sit for the exam can be considered as a violation of the law due to how it is worded at a present. They stressed the need to address these discrepancies.

The second amendment proposed in the bill exempting law graduates and students undertaking their law degrees at the time the Act had come into force in from completing bar exam and training – and amending the law to the apply to students starting their degrees after the Act came into force.

Newly elected president and vice president of Bar Council have recently requested its Executive Committee to postpone the bar exam scheduled for June 25 via a letter.

The letter by newly elected President Ismail Wisham and Vice President Mizna Ahmed read that the pledges made by the new Executive Committee elected on last Saturday include matters which impact the exam.