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In the [[Commonwealth Caribbean]], a '''Legal Education Certificate''' is a [[professional certification]] awarded to a person who has completed a course of study and training at a [[law school]] established by the Council of Legal Education.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.clecaribbean.com/treaty.php|title=Agreement Establishing the Council of Legal Education|publisher=Caribbean Council of Legal Education|date=1970|accessdate=2017-10-31}}</ref> It was created by Articles 4 and 5 of the 1970 Agreement Establishing the Council of Legal Education.<ref name="Agreement">{{cite web|url=http://www.caricom.org/jsp/secretariat/legal_instruments/agreement_cle.jsp?menu=secretariat|title=Agreement Establishing the Council of Legal Education|publisher=Caribbean Community Secretariat|year=1970|accessdate=2012-07-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609191001/http://caricom.org/jsp/secretariat/legal_instruments/agreement_cle.jsp?menu=secretariat|archive-date=2012-06-09|url-status=dead}}</ref> 

==Awarding institutions==
There are three law schools which are empowered to award LECs: the [[Norman Manley Law School]] in [[Jamaica]], the [[Hugh Wooding Law School]] in [[Trinidad and Tobago]], and the [[Eugene Dupuch Law School]] in [[The Bahamas]]. In general, [[Bachelor of Laws|LL.B.]] graduates of the [[University of the West Indies]] are entitled to automatic admission to the above law schools, whereas others must take an entrance examination.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fCfsAAAAMAAJ&q=%22legal+education+certificate%22|title=CARICOM: our Caribbean community|publisher=Ian Randle Publishers|year=2005|accessdate=2012-07-30}}</ref> Another agreement allows [[University of Guyana]] graduates to bypass the entrance exam as well. This exemption only applies to Guyanese nationals. In 2010, [[Solicitor-General of Belize]] [[Oscar Ramjeet]] lobbied for the exemption to be extended to Belizeans.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.reporter.bz/2010/03/page/7/|title=GOB wants level field for Law Students in Jamaica|work=The Belize Reporter|date=2010-03-26|accessdate=2012-04-22}}</ref>

An LEC allows its holder to be admitted to practise law in any country or territory which is a signature to the agreement. In general, no person who does not hold an LEC may be so admitted. The original agreement exempted persons who were qualified to practise law on or before 1 October 1971, or who were undergoing a course of study leading to a qualification which would have enabled them to practise law before that date and who completed that course before 1 January 1980.<ref name="Agreement"/> A supplementary agreement in September 1984 extended the transitional period, and also provided for separate principals for each of the law schools empowered to award LECs.<ref name="Agreement1984">{{cite web|url=http://www.caricom.org/jsp/secretariat/legal_instruments/agreement_cle_supplemental_1984.jsp|title=Supplemental Agreement in Relation to the Council of Legal Education|publisher=Caribbean Community Secretariat|date=September 1984|accessdate=2012-07-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609185232/http://caricom.org/jsp/secretariat/legal_instruments/agreement_cle_supplemental_1984.jsp|archive-date=2012-06-09|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Signatory countries, territories, and organisations==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan=5|Signatories
|-
!1970 agreement<ref name="Agreement"/>
!colspan=4|1984 supplement<ref name="Agreement1984"/>
|-
!Country, territory, or organisation
!Country or organisation
!Representative
!Date
!Location
|-
|{{flag|Antigua and Barbuda|name=Antigua}}
|{{flag|Antigua and Barbuda}}
|[[Keith Ford]]
|19 September 1984
|[[St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda]]
|-
|{{flag|Bahamas|colonial}}
|{{flag|The Bahamas}}
|[[P. L. Adderley]]
|23 September 1984
|[[Miami]], Florida, United States
|-
|{{flag|Barbados}}
|{{flag|Barbados}}
|[[Louis Randall Tull|Louis Tull]]
|14 September 1984
|[[Ocho Rios]], Jamaica
|-
|{{flag|British Honduras}}
|{{flag|Belize}}
|[[George Brown (judge)|George Brown]]
|19 September 1992
|[[Kingston, Jamaica]]
|-
|{{flag|British Virgin Islands}}
|{{flag|British Virgin Islands}}
|colspan=3 style="background: #808080; text-align: center"|Non-signatory
|-
|{{flag|Cayman Islands|1997}}
|{{flag|Cayman Islands}}
|colspan=3 style="background: #808080; text-align: center"|Non-signatory
|-
|{{flag|Dominica|1965}}
|{{flag|Dominica}}
|[[Ronan David]]
|14 September 1984
|Ocho Rios, Jamaica
|-
|{{flag|Grenada|1967}}
|{{flag|Grenada}}
|[[Dennis R. M. Lambert]]
|15 September 1984
|Ocho Rios, Jamaica
|-
|{{flag|Guyana}}
|{{flag|Guyana}}
|[[Mohamed Shahabuddeen]]
|15 September 1984
|[[Georgetown, Guyana]]
|-
|{{flag|Jamaica}}
|{{flag|Jamaica}}
|[[Winston Spaulding]]
|14 September 1984
|Ocho Rios, Jamaica
|-
|{{flag|Montserrat}}
|{{flag|Montserrat}}
|colspan=3 style="background: #808080; text-align: center"|Non-signatory
|-
|rowspan=2|{{flag|Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla}}
|{{flag|Saint Kitts and Nevis}}
|[[Samuel Weymouth Tapley Seaton]]
|20 September 1984
|[[Basseterre]], Saint Kitts
|-
|{{flag|Anguilla}}
|colspan=3 style="background: #808080; text-align: center"|Non-signatory
|-
|{{flag|Saint Lucia|1967}}
|{{flag|Saint Lucia|1979}}
|colspan=3 style="background: #808080; text-align: center"|Non-signatory
|-
|{{flag|Saint Vincent and the Grenadines|colonial|name=Saint Vincent}}
||{{flag|Saint Vincent and the Grenadines|1979}}
|colspan=3 style="background: #808080; text-align: center"|Non-signatory
|-
|{{flag|Trinidad and Tobago}}
|{{flag|Trinidad and Tobago}}
|[[Russel Martineau]]
|14 September 1984
|Ocho Rios, Jamaica
|-
|[[University of Guyana]]
|[[University of Guyana]]
|[[George Walcott]]
|10 October 1984
|[[Georgetown, Guyana]]
|-
|[[University of the West Indies]]
|[[University of the West Indies]]
|[[Aston Preston]]
|14 September 1984
|Ocho Rios, Jamaica
|-
|}

Belize did not join the 1984 supplement initially, but eventually signed it later. It was a signatory to the 1970 agreement as "British Honduras".<ref name="Agreement1984"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1970 introductions]]
[[Category:Educational qualifications in the Caribbean]]
[[Category:Professional certification in law]]