Following the passing of the Legal Education and Legal Practitioners Act (No. 31 of 2018) today in Parliament, it has emerged that the Malawi Law Society (MLS) supported the idea of exempting students from the University of Malawi from attending the Malawi Institute of Legal Education.
Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs of Parliament report read in Parliament before the passing of the Bill shows that the Malawi Law Society MLS advocated for UNIMA’s exemption from enrolling at MILE, citing its longstanding history of training lawyers and its established standards in legal education. According to the report, MLS emphasized that UNIMA’s curriculum was accredited and aligned with MILE’s, urging for exemption based on equivalence.
Regarding Concerns From the Catholic University, Malawi Law Society expressed reservations about the standards at Catholic University of Malawi (CUNIMA) and proposed that its law students enroll at MILE until an assessment by the Malawi Council for Legal Education was conducted to ensure adherence to professional standards.
On Continued Enrollment at MILE for Foreign-Trained Lawyers, MLS maintained that foreign-trained lawyers should still enroll at MILE to acquaint themselves with Malawian law before practicing in the country.
