GUC law clinic to help the poor

Gaborone University College of Law and Professional Studies (GUC) has launched its law clinic, which is expected to empower law degree students to deal with people and the law.

GUC Managing Director Anthony Joseph hopes that through the law clinic, the institution will be able to give back to the community given that a lot of people need legal assistance but cannot afford it.

Joseph revealed that they consulted the University of Botswana which has an operational law clinic and a number of law firms before launching theirs.

Head of Law (Postgraduate) at Leeds Law School, Dr Louisa Ashley said that students in Botswana have a rare opportunity to graduate with a UK certificate from a highly esteemed institution.

She indicated that the law clinic provides the students with a unique opportunity to put their skills into practice in a real world context.

GUC’s first cohort of law degree students will graduate this year. The law degree offered at the institution is under the Leeds Bucket University.

According to the Head of the Department of Law at GUC Emilia Sayenda, graduates housed under their course will get a Leeds Becket University degree at the end of their tenure.

She revealed that the GUC is not the awarding body of the degree but the institution acts as a centre for facilitation. After a graduate gets a Leeds Becket Degree they are to sit for the bar examination in order to practise law in Botswana.

Sayenda explains that BQA has accredited the course and therefore no one should be sceptical about the standard of education they are to receive from the course.

A final year student of the law degree program Lapologang Moatshi explained that pursuing the law degree offered at GUC came naturally as he is a law enforcement officer.

“It is a very difficult course, especially given the different background of the where I am coming from,” Moatshi said, adding that this did not however stop him from giving it his best shot.