Sigh of relief over British Bar decision

By SHAILA KOSHY

koshy@thestar.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: The British Bar Standards Board has tentatively decided to reject the proposal that students who qualify be called to the English Bar only after completing a year's pupillage in Britain.

Although it is still only a provisional decision, the United Kingdom and Eire Council (Ukec) for Malaysian Students president Wan Mohd Firdaus Wan Mohd Fuaad welcomed the rejection of the proposal.

“The proposal, if implemented, would have led eventually to the loss of links to the Inns of Court and traditions that are over 100 years old,” said the former president of the British-based Malaysian Law Students Union who is on holiday here after completing his Bar examination.

On March 4, Sunday Star had highlighted the plight that Malaysians wanting a British barrister-at-law title would face if the proposal was approved.

The coveted title, currently obtained after passing the Bar Vocational Course (BVC) and completing the 12 requisite qualifying sessions, was in danger of costing an extra year of one’s life as well as added living costs ranging from RM35,000 (£5,000) to RM56,000 (£7,000) depending on the location.

After all that, these barristers-at-law would still have had to undergo a further nine-month pupillage when they return home or they could not be admitted to the Malaysian Bar as advocates and solicitors.

The proposal had arisen as a result of public concern in Britain that, by allowing those who had completed the BVC to be called to the Bar and describe themselves as “barristers,” the public might be misled as to who was a fully qualified practitioner.

After a year of consultation and research, the Board said in a report (www.barstandardsboard.org.uk) last month that deferring call to the Bar until after pupillage would not be “an appropriate response to the risk which it is intended to address”.

“We have found very little evidence that the existing protections in the Bar’s Code of Conduct and the criminal law are not sufficient to protect the public from harm,” said Board chairman Ruth Evans.

In a survey of 670 students from 21 universities in Britain, 43% of the 226 non-British students said that they planned to work primarily outside Britain.

During the year-long consultation 83 organisations and individuals responded either in support of (25), against (42) or were non-committal (16).

Among the overseas responses against the proposal were three from Malaysia – the Malaysian Inner Temple Alumni Association, Court of Appeal judge Justice Datuk Gopal Sri Ram who is Lincoln’s Inn Alumni Association president and British High Commissioner William Boyd McCleary.

The Board will give a final decision this month.

Malaysian Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan said the council had written to the Board expressing its support for the provisional decision not to go ahead with the deferral.

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