By Alie Sonta Kamara
The Council of Legal Education Sierra Leone Law School calls to the bar over three hundred legal graduands today, Friday, November 22, 2024, at the Freetown International Conference Centre, Aberdeen.
The event, comprising a dinner and certification, will mark a significant milestone in the graduands’ journey to becoming barristers and solicitors of the High Court of Sierra Leone. It will offer the newcomers formal admission into the law profession.
The journey started at the Sierra Leone Law School, where those admitted had to cover eight months of intensive class-taking and final exams. Upon passing the Bar Final Examinations, graduands are called to the bar.
After the Law School brain-racking activity, the fortunate ones are required to practise pupillage at recognized law firms for 12 months as per section 10 of the Legal Practitioners Act of 2000.
Those opting to practise at the Law Officers Department will cover 18 months as per section 11 of the Legal Practitioners Act of 2000.
The pupillage itself will help lawyers learn how to file or draft papers, how to argue in court, and many more real-life law activities.
Before the pupillage, such legal minds should have signed the Temporary Register at the General Legal Council, a body charged with the responsibility of issuing out licenses to legal practitioners.
For thirty-four years, the number of legal practitioners has been growing significantly since the establishment of the Sierra Leone Law School in September 1989 under the provisions of the Council of Legal Education Act 1989.
