WITH THE University of Technology (UTech) announcing plans to establish a faculty of law, and an increase in the number of locals reading for law degrees overseas, at least one member of parliament (MP) is arguing for more certification space for the legal profession.

Ronald Thwaites, MP for Central Kingston, told Parliament on Wednesday that consideration should be given to the expansion of certifying facilities for lawyers and medical doctors.

Thwaites wants the education ministry to consult with the health and justice ministries to expand the facilities for the training and certification of new members of both professions.

The opposition MP, who was opening a motion he had taken to the House last year, used his opening to bat for an expansion of legal space and signalled that he would also defend doctors when he closed the debate.

Free up the entry

"It is mightily important that we should discern the means by which we can free up the entry of more people who have the aspiration and the wherewithal to enter the legal profession," Thwaites said.

Noting that approximately 75 graduates of the University of the West Indies' Faculty of Law in Barbados, have first claim to the 126 spaces available at the Norman Manley Law School, Thwaites said persons being trained at the UTech, or those who were reading for degrees at overseas institutions would struggle to get certified as lawyers.

"It is stifling the development of the legal profession, the advancement of jurisprudence in our society," Thwaites said.

The Norman Manley Law School is the only certifying facility for lawyers in the island. Thwaites has recommended to the House that the facilities of the law school be doubled.

The debate on the motion will continue at a later date.

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com