Failed LDC Bar course students lose bid for supplementary exams

KAMPALA - Bar course students at Law Development Centre (LDC) who have failed three subjects in category “A” in the concluding academic year will have to re-apply to repeat the course in the next academic year.

Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka said their request to sit supplementary examinations alongside those already scheduled contravenes the spirit of the rules governing the Bar course and can therefore not be granted.

In their March 23, 2026, petition, the students wanted the LDC management to allow them repeat only the failed subjects.

Citing rules 21 (5) and 21(6) of the Rules Governing the Bar Course, Kiryowa noted that a student who fails three (3) or more of the subjects listed in rule 17(2) is deemed to have failed the Bar Course and is not eligible to sit supplementary examinations.

The subjects listed in rule 17(2) of the Rules Governing the Bar Course constituting category “A” include Civil Procedure, Criminal Procedure, Corporate and Commercial Transactions, Family Law Practice, and Land Transactions. If one fails three or more of them, one is regarded to have failed the entire course. 

In his letter dated March 31, 2026 to the LDC director Dr Pamela Tibihikirra-Kalyegira which New Vision has obtained, Kiryowa said students who failed three or more subjects falling under category “A” should instead re-apply to repeat the entire Bar Course.

“I appreciate the concerns raised by the affected students. However, deviating from the provisions of the rules would undermine the established regulatory framework, the Rules Governing the Bar Course of 2023,” wrote the AG.

In their petition, the students were seeking administrative intervention to review the rules to allow them sit the supplementary exams instead of repeating the entire course.
They argued that the framework was unduly harsh, particularly for students who narrowly missed passing marks in some papers.

After one graduates with a bachelor’s degree in law from any recognised university in Uganda, one must enrol for a post-graduate diploma in legal practice known as the Bar Course at LDC for one to be enrolled as an advocate of the Courts of Judicature. Once enrolled, such a person becomes eligible to represent litigants in the courts of law.

The LDC Bar Course operates on a cumulative assessment model where students must score at least 50 percent in each subject to pass.

Grading typically comprises 20 percent individual assessment, 30 percent oral exams and 50 percent final exams, with clerkship performance also contributing to the final grade in each subject.

However, some of the petitioners argued that they failed by only two marks, and it would be unfair for them to repeat the entire course.

Currently, students who failed not more than two subjects in category “A” are writing supplementary examinations ahead of graduation slated for this June 19.

LDC received more than 4,000 applicants, forcing it to have two intakes in September 2024 and January 2025.

However, more than half of them reportedly failed the course.
When contacted, LDC spokesperson Frank Obonyo said the official figures about the performance will soon be released to the public.