Legal Education and Regulators

1. INTERNATIONAL CONFERECNE ON ‘LEGAL EDUCATION’
PRESENTED BY:
 Md. Asaduzzaman
Associate Professor
Dept. of Law & Justice
Southeast University, Bangladesh

2. TITLE OF THE PAPER
 Promoting Quality Legal Education in
Bangladesh: Role of Regulators

3. STRUCTURE OF PRESENTATION
 Introduction
 Factors indicating quality legal education
 Regulatory mechanism for legal education
 Directives of the Supreme Court of
Bangladesh
 Recommendations of Bangladesh Law
Commission
 Challenges
 Recommendations and Conclusion

4. INTRODUCTION
 The role of legal professionals is the
cornerstone in any civilized society. However,
the credibility of professional legal services is
highly dependent on the quality of legal
education. It is admitted with regret that the
present status of legal education in
Bangladesh is not at satisfactory level. Thus,
the raising of standard of legal education in
Bangladesh has become crying need to deliver
quality and competitive legal services at home
and abroad in both traditional and new
emerging legal specializations.

5. Factors Indicating Quality Legal Education
 The ABA Rule of Law Initiative’s Legal
Education Reform Index (LERI) is based
on 22 factors drawing upon the criteria
and principles outlined in some of the
fundamental international instruments
related to higher legal education.

6. Factors Indicating Quality Legal Education
(A) Factors relating to Licensing,
Accreditation and Evaluation
 Factor 1: Regulation of legal education by a
duly authorized entity
 Factor 2: Standards for licensing and
accreditation
 Factor 3: Licensing and accreditation
procedure
 Factor 4: Disciplinary and enforcement
actions

7. Factors Indicating Quality Legal Education
(B) Factors relating to Admission Policies
and Requirements
 Factor 5: Admission examination and/or
other entrance standards
 Factor 6: Non-discriminatory admission
 Factor 7: Special admission measures

8. Factors Indicating Quality Legal Education
(C) Factors relating to Curriculum and
Teaching Methodology
 Factor 8: Comprehensive curricula
 Factor 9: Instruction in ethics and core
professional values
 Factor 10: Professional skills
instruction
 Factor 11: Teaching methodologies

9. Factors Indicating Quality Legal Education
(D) Factors relating to Student Evaluation,
Awarding of Degrees and Recognition of
Qualifications
 Factor 12: Student evaluation and/or
examination
 Factor 13: Awarding of degrees
 Factor 14: Institutional record-keeping
 Factor 15: Recognition frameworks and
networks

10. Factors Indicating Quality Legal Education
(E) Factors relating to Faculty
Qualifications and Conditions of
Employment
 Factor 16: Faculty qualifications
 Factor 17: Hiring, promotion and tenure
 Factor 18: Faculty compensation
 Factor 19: Academic freedom and
freedom of association for law faculty

11. Factors Indicating Quality Legal Education
(F) Factors relating to Institutional
Holdings and Capacities
 Factor 20: Access to legal materials
 Factor 21: Physical facilities and
technological capacities
 Factor 22: Class size and
administrative/support staff

12. Regulatory mechanism for legal education
 (A) Internal
 Academic Committee
 Curriculum Committee
 Exam Committee
 Quality Assurance Cell
 Academic council
 Syndicate
 Senate in the case of public universities
 Board of trustee in the case of private
universities

13. Regulatory mechanism for legal education
 (A) External
 Bangladesh Bar Council
 Bangladesh Law Commission
 University Grants Commission (Higher
Education Commission)
 Secondary and Higher Education Division
under the Ministry of Education
 Bangladesh Accreditation Council
 Regional and International Accreditation
Bodies

14. Relevant directives of the Appellate Division of the
Supreme Court of the Bangladesh-2017
 The Bar Council shall frame Rules with
approval of the government to monitor the
standard of legal education to be observed
by universities and law colleges in
Bangladesh and the inspection of the
universities and colleges for that purpose
in accordance with article 40(2)(t) of
P.O.46 of 1972.

15. Relevant directives of the Appellate Division of the
Supreme Court of the Bangladesh-2017
 The Bar Council shall publish a syllabus to be
taught by the universities and law colleges
compulsorily which will award LLB honours
and pass course degree certificates and that
no person shall be allowed to be enrolled as an
advocate unless he/she obtains a graduation
certificate on law on those subjects in
accordance with article 27(1)(i) and (d) of P.O.
46 of 1972.

16. Relevant directives of the Appellate Division of the
Supreme Court of the Bangladesh
 The Bar Council has exclusive power to
recognize a degree in law obtained by any
person from any university or college and it
has power to curtail/exonerate the power
to practice of any person either in the
district courts or in the High Court Division.

17. Relevant directives of the Appellate Division of the
Supreme Court of the Bangladesh
 No private university shall issue Bachelor
of Law degree unless such person
undergoes four years education in law
course and this direction shall have
prospective effect. No public or private
university shall admit students in bachelor
of law course more than 50 (fifty) students
in a semester.

18. Relevant directives of the Appellate Division of the
Supreme Court of the Bangladesh
 No public or private university or law
college shall issue any law degree
certificate to a student which does not
have sufficient number of teachers to
teach the law subject, as may be
prescribed by the Bangladesh Bar Council.

19. Relevant recommendations of Bangladesh Law
Commission-2007
 Formation of a Council of Legal Education for
overall control, monitoring and supervision of
legal education in Bangladesh. The Council
will exercise its functions in collaboration with
the Bar Council and the University Grants
Commission. Necessary law is to be enacted
for the formation of the Council, which would
also entail amendment of the Bangladesh
Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Order
1972, in so far as it concerns legal education.

20. Relevant recommendations of Bangladesh Law
Commission
 To form legal education committee in the
University Grants Commission consisting
of the representatives of the law schools,
and with this end in view to make
necessary amendments in the University
Grants Commission Order, 1972 and the
relevant rules.

21. Challenges
 Capacity building of the regulators
 Coordination among the regulators

22. Recommendations and conclusion
 The respective regulators should be pro-
active and act in coordination with each
other.
 Regulatory reform and capacity building
should be given due priority by the
government.