GOVERNMENT has gazetted a new Statutory Instrument, 11 of 2016, which recognises the University of Zimbabwe and the Midlands State University as the only local institutions producing law students that do not require to sit for conversion examinations before they start practising.
BY PAIDAMOYO MUZULU
The regulation replaces Statutory Instrument 30C of 2007 that only recognised law graduates from the University of Zimbabwe as suitable candidates for practice without sitting for a conversion examination.
Law Society of Zimbabwe president, Vimbai Nyemba, however, said the regulations simply meant that graduates with law degrees from other universities had to write conversion examinations before they can be accepted to practice.
“For someone to practice in Zimbabwe, if you do not have the designated qualification, one must sit for conversion or write and pass some courses to qualify to practice,” Nyemba explained.
The statutory instrument read, “The degrees specified in the schedule are declared to be designated legal qualifications for the purposes of the Legal Practitioners (Council for Legal Education) Rules, 1992, published in Statutory Instrument 447 of 1992.”
Other institutions offering law degrees include Great Zimbabwe University and Ezekiel Guti University.
