Entering law course is set to get tougher

Entry requirements for the law course will become stricter from 2014, requiring students to have passes in both English and Maltese.

The University Senate has already approved the new entry requirements, which will eventually become law after publication in the Government Gazette, according to the Dean of the Faculty of Laws, Kevin Aquilina.

The new requirements stipulate that students must have an A level pass (C or better) and an intermediate level pass in English and Maltese, though they do not determine which language should be at A level and which at intermediate, leaving the choice to the students.

Currently, students can join the law course if they have any two A levels. In the past, the system used to require A levels in both English and Maltese, which is the language used in the course.

Law will also be available at intermediate level, to give aspiring lawyers a good introduction to the course. It would also be available to students who do not want to pursue a legal career but want to have some background to help in other courses. The law intermediate course will not be compulsory for entry into the University law course.

The changes will come into force in two years’ time, allowing the infrastructure for the new law intermediate course to be set up and to allow aspiring lawyers to choose their subjects at Sixth Form.

Prof. Aquilina gave this information on Tuesday during a sitting of the Consolidation of Laws House Committee, presided over by Nationalist MP Franco Debono. Dr Debono said the entry requirements should be raised to safeguard the prestige of the profession.

Prof. Aquilina had been asked by the committee to submit a comparative study about the appointment of judicial appointments in other countries.

Fellow Nationalist MP Francis Zammit Dimech stressed that he was against restricting those who could join his profession.

Labour MP José Herrera noted that he had experienced the numerus clausus in the 1980s and also disagreed with restrictions but said entry requirements for law should still be in line with those of other professions.

The situation, he said, made the law course the “dumping ground” for students who failed to enter other courses.

Dr Debono agreed that a reasonable line should be drawn.

At this point, Prof. Aquilina pointed out that the Faculty of Laws had embarked on a wide review of entry requirements two years ago.

Dr Debono wondered why it had to take so long and Prof Aquilina said the exercise took a wider view on the law course as a whole.

Dr Debono also stressed that the law course should allow for specialisation because it did not make sense for someone who wanted to enter commercial law to know everything about criminal law too.

Prof Aquilina said the proposed changes to the law course would see a four-year introductory course that could then be followed by a specialised Masters and a professional doctorate.

Dr Debono said specialisation was also important in the appointment of judges. It did not make sense for people who had been serving in the criminal court to suddenly find themselves judging cases of a commercial nature.