According to Babatunde Edwards, the Chief Justice of the Judiciary of Sierra Leone, prospective law students will have to take an entrance exam the following year.
At the Call to the Bar certification ceremony this year, Edwards revealed this on November 30, 2022, stressing that they cannot sacrifice quality.
“Next year it will be a prerequisite for admission for to the law school for graduates to pass an entrance examination as it happens in other countries,” said the Chief Justice.
He stated that in order to get admitted to law school, a student had to successfully complete the three fundamental courses—Equity and Trust, Law of Torts, and Land Law—in a single sitting while still enrolled in college.
According to Edwards, the legal profession is unique in that its workers must be intelligent and dedicated both in undergraduate and during law school.
He discussed the issues brought up about the vast number of barristers and lawyers that leave the school each year, emphasizing that it does not match the need.
He acknowledged that they are aware of such issues and acknowledged that it is difficult to place graduates in pupillage, which is necessary for a lawyer to sign in the permanent register of legal practitioners.
He said they planned to build a cutting-edge addition that could house at least 400 pupils and claimed his students had given a total of 50 million Leones towards the facility.
He exhorted all legal professionals to forge ahead while upholding the profession's norms.
According to a Fourah Bay College final-year law student who requested anonymity, if a student has performed exceptionally well by earning a stellar degree and meeting the prerequisites by passing the core module, it is only fair to grant them admission to law school.
“To take another examination again, it’s too much if you ask me” she said.
She explained that the course is tough and with the anticipation of what is to be expected in law school, it will be too much to add an entrance exam.
But some lawyers who spoke to Politico lauded the idea, explaining that it would be a plus to the institution but stressed there should be “no compromise”.
228 barristers and solicitors were certified for the High Court of Sierra Leone during this year's ceremony. In 1990, the Sierra Leone Law School opened its doors to 26 students.