CLP is the abbreviation for the Certificate of Legal Practice. Every Malaysian who wants to formally practice as a lawyer (advocate and solicitor, 2 in 1, unlike the Bar) would have to pass either the CLP/ the BAR (if you're graduating from an overseas university) or simply graduate from a local university wherein graduates automatically emerge with said certificate - along with a degree.
Alright, that sounds simple enough!
A-ah. Not so fast. You'd think it's just an exam, and you'd be right, to an extent. Think SPM - now increase the difficulty level another 100 notches up. Now that I've actually gone through it, you want to know what it is? It's nothing but a memorisation test set up by a bunch of assholes specifically designed to fail the students.
I'll give you an example. Students aren't actually allowed to bring in the Legal Profession Act 1976 into exams (for the Professional Practice paper). "Why?", you'd ask. Good question. That makes two of us. The so-called rationale behind this is that lawyers are supposed to know the law inside out, and of course, that makes sense. What they fail to take into account, or rather, the fact that they simply choose to ignore, is the fact that the human brain can only store so much of information before it goes into overdrive.
Which, by the way, is completely unnecessary seeing that 1)students already have a lot of things to memorise in the first place and 2) Excuse me, lawyers are still human beings, aren't they? Do we look like a computer to you? Even the most senior lawyer can forget some statutes from time to time. I really don't see the necessity behind this.
Regardless, I actually passed this paper which so many people failed literally by the skin of my teeth. Don't judge, you'll understand that passing is the only thing that matters once you get here.
Alright, so why do you sound so bitter?
Okay, so I sound a little bitter. That's because I've resat for the same paper three times and wasted an entire year having to wait for the resit exam.
It's not the LPQB's fault you failed.
No, that's entirely my own negligence and mistake. I'll admit that much.
But you know what's so infuriating about it? The fact that I had to literally waste 10 months of my life waiting for the resit in August from the last resit, which was in October. If you must know, the October papers are notoriously hard. These sounds like excuses, but wait - just wait - till you actually do the exam. I felt like I was going to cry right there in the examination hall. It was horrible.
I sidetracked. My point is, why do you have to waste so much of a person's time just to sit for one paper? We have our own lives, too. We have jobs, people to feed, bills to pay etch. Waiting for an exam for that long doesn't help anyone. If anything, it only made life more difficult. Most of my friends had to quit their jobs to study for the exam. So did I. That was a huge gamble for most of us, and both a stressful and painful choice to make.
These people don't see that. What they see is the profit they'll rake from the thousands enrolling for the exam each year. They're just numbers and a 30% quota to fill.
So what exactly are you hoping to achieve by whining here?
All I'm saying is that the LPQB really needs to reassess themselves and put themselves in our shoes. I've seen the exam questions from our local universities, and I'm sorry to say that they are nowhere near the LPQB's standards. By that I meant that they were ridiculously easy and straightforward. It was almost as if the lecturers were trying so hard to help the students pass. Ehem.
If you're going set a national exam, why don't you make a streamlined exam where everyone sits for the same paper? Otherwise how would you actually assess the level of intelligence and understanding of everyone sitting for the exam? How is this fair?
So please, by all means, fix it.
And to anyone who dares to say "It's just an exam!"
Over and Out.
