Law Degree Good, Articled Clerkship Better
In Malaysia, there are actually two ways to be an advocate and solicitor. The first is the law degree route. You obtain a law degree from an approved university. A graduate from a foreign university must pass the English Bar exams or return home to Malaysia and pass the Certificate of Legal Practice (‘CLP’) exams to be eligible to apply to be a pupil-in-chambers (‘pupil’). For some local Universities, such as University Malaya, International Islamic University, and University UiTM (Shah Alam), a local graduate is immediately eligible to apply for pupilage after they complete their law degrees. Not all local universities have this privilege. Those universities I mentioned are ‘CLP-exempted’ because they are supposed to have baked the CLP syllabus into their law degree curriculum. Even though this is requirement is set by the Legal Profession Qualifying Board (‘LPQB’) that sets and evaluates the exam for CLP subjects, the LPQB does not assess the student. That is done by the universities. Generally, be it from a foreign or domestic university, a law graduate must serve a 9-month pupilage. There are exceptions but that’s not relevant here. After pupilage, barring any unforeseen event or objection, a pupil is called to the Bar as an advocate and solicitor. The second is the non-law degree route. That route is through an articled clerkship. This route is prescribed by law under the Legal Profession Act 1976 (LPA76) and is still in force. It was enacted for those who wished to practice law but didn’t have a law degree or a degree at all. Regrettably, it has fallen into disuse. I had my intern call up the LPQB to ask about articled clerkships and they told us they do not have them anymore. Why? I don’t know. Perhaps too few applied for an articled clerkship to make the effort worthwhile. Perhaps it was a way to force those who did not have a degree or a non-law degree to take a law degree. Perhaps the LPQB forgot its other statutory duties. Whatever the reason – and if you happen to know, please tell me – it is puzzling how the articled clerkship faded into non-existence given how important it is from a legislative standpoint. Three reasons to make my point. Firstly, the LPQB was established to set the standards and exams for law graduates and non-law graduates to be a ‘qualified person’ i.e., someone eligible to be called to the bar as an advocate and solicitor. Out of six of LPQB’s functions, four relate to articled clerkships. Only three functions relate to pupils or law graduates: see sections 4 and 5 LPA76. Secondly, out of the nine powers accorded to the LPQB, five of those powers relate to articled clerkships: see section 6(2) LPA76. Thirdly, in the section on Qualified Persons in Part II, LPA76, there are 16 provisions, sections 10 to 25. 6 provisions are devoted exclusively to articled clerks and it shares in some of the other provisions i.e., sections 10, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 19 LPA76. That is how important the articled clerkship is from the legislative standpoint. It is therefore not just a shame but short-sighted for the LPQB to abandon this route to being an advocate and solicitor, it is a breach of their statutory duties. Not once is it referred to on LPQB’s website. The only time that word is used is under ‘Membership of the Board’ which sets out the LPQB’s powers. But first, what is an articled clerk? An articled clerkship was the route to being an advocate and solicitor if you did not have a degree or a law degree. It was for those who (i) did not have a degree or (ii) have a degree but not a law degree. An articled clerk apprentices under a principal (the equivalent of pupil master) for a certain period of time. An articled clerk who does not have a degree must possess education qualifications prescribed by the LPQB and does an articles of 5 years. For one who has a degree but not a law degree, his articles are 3 years: see sections 24(1) and (2) LPA76. Because a pupil has a law degree, their apprenticeship (also known as the ‘pupilage period’) is only 9 months. What articled clerks and pupils are expected to do are the same. Like a pupil master, an articled clerk’s principal must be an advocate with at least seven years of active practice at the Bar. If he isn’t, the principal must get special written leave from the LPQB. In order to be called as an advocate and solicitor, an articled clerk has to satisfy 4 requirements. Firstly, serve his period of articles. Secondly, attend whatever courses required by the LPQB. Thirdly, pass whatever examinations prescribed by the LPQB. Finally, pass the Bahasa Malaysia Qualifying Exam: see section 25 LPA76. That is not very different from what pupils have to satisfy to be called to the Bar. Pupils now have to attend a certain number of legal courses by BC or the State Bar Committees and pass an ethics exam in order to fulfil the requirements of being a qualified person. All that is needed to revive the articled clerkship is for the LPQB to set up the examination for the articled clerks to pass. Everything else is already in place. The legislative and educational structure is in place. The Legal Profession (Articled Clerks) Rules 1979 were in force since 28.12.1979. The agencies to educate and supervise it are already established. More importantly, the 1979 Rules set out what subjects an articled clerk will be examined on and the body to set the exams. This is what the 1979 Rules provide: The syllabus and reading list for the examination shall be those prescribed from time to time by the University of Malaya for the examinations for the Degree of Bachelor of Laws. Rule 6(4), The Legal Profession (Articled Clerks) Rules 1979 An articled clerk has to take 2 examinations. An Intermediate
