Can I omit the bar course and make it?

Dec 01, 2009

I finished school last year with a bachelor’s degree in law. I am not interested in enrolling for the Bar course but prefer to do a post-graduate diploma in management, international trade law and policy. How can this better my employment opportunities?

ASK THE EXPERTS

Dear Sir,
I finished school last year with a bachelor’s degree in law. I am not interested in enrolling for the Bar course but prefer to do a post-graduate diploma in management, international trade law and policy. How can this better my employment opportunities?
- Kevin


 
Dear Kevin,
The post-graduate diploma in legal practice (bar course), offered by the Law Development Centre (LDC), is inevitable and crucial in the legal system.

LDC’s deputy director Percy Tuhaise, says under the current Ugandan law, no one can practise law without having studied the bar course.

It is not clear why you do not want to take it. Tuhaise says anyone with a bachelor’s degree in law from a university whose academic programmes are accredited by the National Council for Higher Education are eligible.

You would indeed boost your career opportunities if you studied the bar course. Sylvia Tamale, a former dean at the Faculty of Law at Makerere University, says you can only skip the bar course if you are very sure you will never practise law in your lifetime, which she says is very unpredictable.

Tuhaise says though important, the bar course does not determine one’s employment, which depends on the needs of the employers.
There are lawyers who skipped the bar course for post-graduate diplomas in other fields, and are employed.

If, after a critical review of your interests, you still think you should not study the bar course, you could go ahead with your alternative.

The post-graduate diploma in management practice, international trade law and policy is not offered in Uganda. Makerere University offers one law post-graduate diploma ­­— forced migrations and refugee studies. However, you can study it at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

The course adopts an inter-disciplinary approach, combining trade law and trade economics/policy.  Graduates can work in multi-national companies, international sections of banks or government institutions.

Compiled by Francis Kagolo
education@newvision.co.ug

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