Daily Times

Chief Justice Syed Manor Ali Shah recently took the decision to set aside the exam exemptions being given to foreign law graduates. Details regarding the decision can be read on page A62 of the Pakistan Law Journal (PLJ). I had a role to play in this decision as I appeared as a counsel to the court, and arguing that the dictum laid down by the superior court should be applied equally to all individuals. The practice of exempting foreign graduates had been ongoing for a long time. It had always reminded me of segregation on the United States and the separate schools for the country’s black and white populations.

Foreign graduates studied neither civil procedure code, criminal procedure code, the jurisprudence involved in Pakistan’s labour laws, service matters and most important of all the Constitution of Pakistan. Their exemption from Pakistan’s bar exams is a direct violation of the Punjab Legal Practitioners Bar Council Rules 1974. Furthermore, a law graduate from Pakistan has completed a five year BA-LLB programme while those from foreign programs have only completed a three year program. This too is a violation of Article 25 of the Constitution of Pakistan.

Thus I would have to say Mansoor Ali Shah’s decision is commendable. Giving law graduates who have never studied the country’s laws legal licences can only be described as absurd. It is also a warning to private law colleges in Pakistan which provide sub-standard education. One example is a particular college which provides sub-standard tuition services on behalf of the University of London external degree programme. The programme mints money but its graduates struggle while practicing in local courts simply because they are not well versed in local laws.

The Pakistan Bar Council has yet to make any effort towards improving the standards of legal education in the country. They have failed miserably in bringing checks and balances on institutes providing legal education

The court rightly pointed out that when a foreign graduate in Pakistan has to appear before that foreign country’s bar council exams when they want to practice law in that country. Therefore it doesn’t make sense that these same graduates are exempt from the bar council exams in Pakistan. It’s safe to say that this decision will only raise the standards of legal education and legal practice in the country.

Recently, some lawyers from Multan, which included a Multan High Court Bar President, were found to be involved in hooliganism and vandalism. These lawyers had shown contemptuous attitude to Justice Qasim Khan who was presiding over a case. When they were summoned over this issue, they refused to appear before the court and repeated their contemptuous attitude towards Justice Khan again in the court room premises. This brings to question; if lawyers won’t show respect for the law, who will? Furthermore, it points out that even lawyers, who are educated members of the community lack civic sense.

The efforts of the present Chief Justice of Lahore in this regard need to be highlighted. His efforts to raise the standards of legal education are commendable and he is an inspiration to young lawyers like myself. However the Pakistan Bar Council still needs to play its role in this regard. They have failed miserably in bringing checks and balances on institutes providing legal education. There are institutions in Lahore which hire non-professional lawyers to teach subjects like constitutional law, criminal procedure and the civil procedure code. The bar council has not even raised a finger to stop these sorts of practices, and neither has the Higher Education Commission (HEC). Secondly, there is no effective audit inspection by the bar councils or the HEC on the institutions providing legal education. The judgements from the superior courts regarding legal education will be in vain unless an effort is made by the bar council to harness legal education standards in this country. At present bar council office bearers seem to have no interest in improving our legal education standards. Most of their efforts seem to be geared towards acquiring votes from the lawyer’s fraternity.

The writer is a human rights lawyer and appeared as a counsel in reported case PLJ 2016 Lahore page 462, which dealt with legal education

Published in Daily Times, September 30^th 2017.