Successful completion of the course of study at the Eugene Dupuch Law School results in the award of the Certificate of Legal Education. That Certificate enables its holders to practise law throughout the Commonwealth Caribbean, subject to the municipal law in the various territories.

TWO-YEAR PROGRAMME

The Eugene Dupuch Law School offers a two-year programme for persons who hold a degree of Bachelor of Laws from the University of the West Indies or another university approved by the Council of Legal Education.

First Year Courses

Courses taken in the first year of study are:

Civil Procedure and Practice I
Course Director – Mrs. Ruth Bowe-Darville
Associate Tutor – Mrs. Tara Cooper Burnside.

Practice and procedure in summary courts including family and affiliation matters and proceedings for enforcement of judgments and orders and appeals. Practice and procedure in the Supreme Court of Judicature at first instance and in Special Tribunals. Family Law Practice and Procedure including trial of undefended matters in common law and civil law systems and status of children. Initiation of proceedings, writs, petitions, motions, summonses and other originating process. Pleadings, Interlocutory applications. Summary Judgment.

Criminal Practice and Procedure (Summary, Indictable and Appeals)
Course Director – Mr. Clive Guy
Associate Tutor – Mr. Garvin Gaskin

Practice and procedure in summary courts created by statute. Preliminary inquiries and similar process. Coroners' Inquest. Appeals from summary courts. Practice and procedure in higher courts-indictments, information, trial by jury, verdict, sentence, compensation and costs in criminal cases.

Appeals to Courts of Appeal from conviction on indictment or information. Powers of Courts of Appeal, application of the proviso in criminal appeals. Rights, obligations, powers and duties of Police. General principles relating to punishment. Prisons, Borstals, Juvenile detention centres, probations, suspended sentences, fines, bonds.

Appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, as of right, by leave of Courts of Appeal, by special leave of the Judicial Committee. Procedure in appeals to the Privy Council.

Evidence, Civil and Criminal including Forensic Medicine
Course Director – Mr. Thomas Evans, Q.C.
Associate Tutor – Mr. Milton Evans

The general principles of the English common law of evidence. Res gestae. The rule against hearsay declarations; confessions, statutory variations of the common law in relation to the admissibility of evidence, competence and compellability, oaths and affirmations, proof of documents, judicial notice, primary and secondary evidence. Unsworn testimony. Convictions as evidence in civil cases. The oath as a vehicle to truth. Forensic Medicine. General Principles of medical jurisprudence and toxicology. Medical evidence in civil and criminal cases.

Landlord and Tenant (including Rent Restriction, Ejectment and Agricultural Holdings)
Course Director – Madam Justice Jeanne Thompson (Ret.)
Associate Tutor – Ms. Samantha Williams

The general principles of the English Law of landlord and tenant, share cropping, agricultural contracts, agricultural holdings, security of tenure, statutory regulation and control of leases and tenancies in the West Indies. Chattel houses. Movable and immovable dwellings. Assignments of leasehold interests and tenancies. Damage for wrongful or forceful ejectment.

Law of Remedies
Course Director – Mrs. Carla D. Card-Stubbs
Associate Tutor – Mrs. Nicole Sutherland King

General and special damages in contract and tort. Pleadings and proof. Calculation and assessment of damages in cases of personal injury and death. Judicial trends in the West Indies. Apportionment of damages. Remoteness.

Legal Drafting and Interpretation
Course Director – Hon. Mme. Justice Bain
Associate Tutors – Mr. Shadrach Morris

The techniques of drafting legislation and documents with legislative effect. Use of language in the West Indies. Legislative recognition of customs and practices. The drafting of deeds, wills and other documents. The general principles of interpretation of deeds, statutes and other instruments. The interpretation of Constitutional Instruments. The writing of opinions, decisions and judgments.

Second Year Courses

Courses taken in the second year of study are:

Civil Procedure and Practice II
Course Director – Mr. Ian Winder
Associate Tutor – Mrs. Donna Newton.

Determination of Proceedings without Trial. Preparation for Trial. Trial, judgment and orders. Enforcement of judgment and orders. Equitable Remedies and Prerogative Orders. Restitution. Costs. Review of taxation of costs. Appeals in relation to costs. Appeals from courts of first instance including interlocutory applications in appeals, security for costs, stay of execution of judgments appealed from, dismissal of appeals for non-compliance with rules, reinstatement. Hearing and Judgment. Costs of appeal. Appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, as of right, by leave of Courts of Appeal and by special leave of the Judicial Committee. Practice and procedure in appeals to the Judicial Committee. The Practice relating to the formation, operation and dissolution of companies and other associations. The practice and procedure in contentious matters in Probate and Administration proceedings.

Conveyancing and Registration of Title
Course Director – Mrs. Constance Delancy
Associate Tutor – Mr. Phillip McKenzie

General principles of conveyancing in relation to freehold, leasehold and other interests in the civil and common law systems of the West Indies including indigenous developments in both systems. The acquisition of title and land registration. The Torrens System, the Roman-Dutch system of conveyancing. Title registers. Practice and procedure in relation to the acquisition of interests in land by judicial process. Vesting of property under statute. Legislation relating to housing, town and country planning and compulsory acquisition of land. Crown and state land tenures and interests. Restrictive covenants and their modification and variation. Prescription, Mortgages, charges, liens and hypothecs.

Ethics, Rights and Obligations of the Legal Profession
Course Director – Mrs. Tonya Bastian Galanis
Associate Tutor – Mrs. Denise Lewis-Johnson

The status of members of the legal profession as officers of the Courts, independence of members of the legal profession, duties to the Court, clients, the public and the profession, the ethics of the legal profession; obligations to the public to promote the rule of law and to support the creation and maintenance of an independent judiciary; the role of the legal profession in aiding members of the public to secure adequate representation in legal proceedings, representation in matters in forma pauperis. Solicitors' practice. Advocacy and Legal Aid.

Law Office Management, Accounting and Technology
Course Director – Mrs. Clarita V. Lockhart
Associate Tutor – Mr. Gerald A. Sawyer

General principles of office management. Bookkeeping and accounts. Double entry book-keeping. The interpretation of balance sheets. Accounts generally and the separation of clients' accounts from personal accounts. The preparation of bills of cost in legal proceedings. Records, filing and safekeeping of clients' documents. Taxation of professional men. Duty to make tax returns. Professional advice on taxation.

Law of Succession (Testate and Intestate)
Course Director – Mrs. Carla Card-Stubbs
Associate Tutor – Mrs. Hazel Thompson Ahye

The general principles of the law regulating testate and intestate succession in the common and civil law systems of the West Indies. Wills, intestacy and the administration and winding-up of the estate of deceased persons. The administration of trusts and settlements. Practice and procedure in non-contentious matters in probate and administration proceedings.

Trial Advocacy
Course Director – Mr. Clive Guy
Associate Tutors – Mr. Wayne Munroe & Mr. Gavin Gaskin

Students are also expected to acquire competence during the two-year course in:

(a) general advocacy (including court room etiquette);
(b) negotiation and alternative dispute resolution;
(c) interviewing clients; and
(d) preparation of cases for litigation and settlement.

Application Downloads If you would like to apply for our 2 year programme, download the following forms.
	Application Form
	References

SIX-MONTH PROGRAMME

The Law School offers a six-month course of training for common law professionally trained persons who have obtained a degree of a University or Institution which is recognised by the Council of Legal Education as being equivalent to the degree of Bachelor of Laws of The University of the West Indies and -

(a) hold a qualification which, had it been obtained prior to 1st October 1972, would have been recognised by all of the participating territories as a qualification to be admitted to practise as a barrister or solicitor in those territories; or

(b) hold a qualification obtained in a common law jurisdiction for admission to practise law in that jurisdiction and which qualification is approved by the Council and furnish a certificate of good standing from the competent authority in the jurisdiction where they have been admitted to practice

The course of training runs from the commencement of the academic year of the Law School and ends six months thereafter.

Courses taken are:

(a) Constitutional Law

(b) Law and Legal Systems of the Caribbean

(c) Criminal Practice and Procedure

(d) Law Office Management, Accounting and Technology.

The Principal may add to or exempt a student from any of the foregoing subjects having regard to his professional qualification and experience. On successful completion of the course of study, the student is awarded the Council's Legal Education Certificate (L.E.C.). This entitles him or her to be admitted to practise law.

Students in the six- month programme are also required to

(i) attend at court under a programme of court attendance (to be drawn up by the Principal) and
(ii) perform exercises and the observation of practices and procedures in a legal aid clinic or law office.

Application Downloads If you would like to apply for our 6 month programme, download the following forms.
	Application for Admission into our 6 month programme
	References