Higher Education Commission (HEC) has announced Law Graduate Assessment Test(Law-GAT) for eligibility to seek enrollment as an advocate with bar council.
The test is being conducted on the directions of Supreme Court vide its Order dated March 6, 2018 has directed restoration of the Law Graduate Assessment Test (Law-GAT) by the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) through the Higher Education Commission (HEC).
According to official sources from HEC, the objective of the Assessment Test is to ensure proper scrutiny and evaluation of a law graduate desirous to join the legal profession so that only competent individuals possessing necessary basic knowledge of law may enter the legal profession for practicing law. Therefore, a law graduate only becomes eligible to apply to a Bar Council for enrollment as an Advocate if he/she qualifies the Assessment Test to be conducted by HEC, Pakistan having been so authorised by PBC, pursuant to the aforementioned Order of the Honourable Supreme Court and read with Section 26 (cc) of Legal Practitioners and Bar Council’s Act 1973 and rules of PBC. As per details, the persons having passed Bachelor’s degree in Law or equivalent from a university recognized by HEC/PBC are eligible to apply. The test will consist of Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQs). The revised curriculum of Law-GAT can be downloaded from: https://www.hec.gov.pk/english/HECAnnouncements/Pages/Syllabus-LGAT.aspx.
The last date to apply online for the test is June 15, 2022, while the Law-GAT will be tentatively held on July 3, 2022. Any change in test date will be communicated through http://etc.hec.gov.pk. Applicants who register through HEC online registration process will download their Roll Number Slip through http://etc.hec.gov.pk a week before the test date. However, Email/SMS will be sent to registered applicants for test date, time and venue.
HEC-Law GAT test will be conducted in the centers including Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Sukkur, Abbottabad, Quetta, Multan, Hyderabad, Turbat, Bahawalpur, Peshawar, Muzaffarabad, Faisalabad, and Gilgit. Aplicants may select any test centre from the list available in the application form. The said test will be held on any of above centres if minimum 250 applicants select that centre. Test centre once selected will not be changed after registration. The applicants are encouraged to visit the following link: http://etc.hec.gov.pk for online registration.