Daily Times

The noble profession of law has been reduced to a mere commodity for many foreign investors through the ill-informed and ill-understood local mechanism of distance learning (E-learning) law degree programmes. Such law degree programmes have also created an anathematic division between law students studying local law curriculum and those getting trained under the garb of foreign law degrees. It is shocking to see how the privileged can complete a law degree in three years under the name of external or distance learning, while local law students have to complete it in five years. This is clear discrimination, which has caused animosity between local and external law degree graduates in the legal market.

It is significant to consider that when a student obtains an external law degree, the degree does not mention ‘external law degree’, which leads the Pakistan Bar Council to assume that the degree is being studied in the United Kingdom. For the purpose of registration, the same degree is submitted to the Pakistan Bar Council, which sends the degree to the University for verification purposes. Once the degree is verified from the institution, the Pakistan Bar Council issues the license without having knowledge of whether the degree is being taught in a local University or not. This is one of the major loopholes that allows these foreign investors to make a sizeable profit by concealing facts and deliberately keeping the local law bodies oblivious.

There is no doubt that these degrees aspire to inculcate excellent doctrines and precedents of Law. However, the structure of these external degrees needs to be updated for the legal market of Pakistan. Currently, the external degree uses a compulsory module of EU Law whereas it should be designed to teach the laws in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) or Economic Cooperative Organisation (ECO) countries, since after all, the degree is being taught in an Asian country. Keeping in mind the current economic situation of Pakistan and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) the degree provider should also consider adding modules of Chinese laws in its academic curriculum. In order to have smooth trade with China, qualified arbitrators and mediators are in needed urgently, thus mediation and arbitration courses should also be offered in external or distance learning programme for the students in Pakistan.

The external degree law courses need to be redesigned in a manner, which enhances drafting and advocacy skills of the student lawyers in Pakistan. There should be Bar Professional Training Courses for the legal market of Pakistan. Pakistani lawyers should be trained for Pakistani Civil and Criminal Procedures in Pakistan in order to serve the Honourable Courts of Pakistan. The legal industry should provide equal opportunities to all the candidates, especially to those who prove to be passionate about the legal profession. The profession of law requires academic as well as practical training. Whereas distance learning law degrees lack practical and academic experience for the local legal market, which is why its existence has become questionable.

The external learning degree can be an excellent platform for students studying in the United Kingdom who are familiar with their jurisdiction — but that’s about it

The deliverance of external law degrees in Pakistan needs to be improved urgently. There should be a proper check and balance on these foreign degree providers and their examination processes. They should not be left to generate revenue from Pakistan as they please without contributing to our economy. All the distance learning education centres abroad should update their legal courses for Pakistan with the help of the Pakistan Bar Council. In the interest of better legal education, external degree providers should be well connected with the legal research centres in Pakistan. It should be the responsibility of foreign institutions to plan court visits and arrange mooting competitions for the students they enrol in Pakistan.

In a nutshell, the external learning degree can be an excellent platform for students studying in the United Kingdom who are familiar with their jurisdiction — but that’s about it. It is high time that the Pakistan Bar Council and the Government of Pakistan take strenuous measures to rescue the high-jacked foreign legal education system in Pakistan. The foreign law degrees clearly challenge the dignity of our local law degrees. This issue is still unaddressed at all forums in Pakistan.

The writer teaches in an External Law degree program and practices as an Advocate High Court

Published in Daily Times, May 18^th 2018.