Faculty of Law
Our mission is to provide an extraordinary and transformative educational experience that embraces excellence in scholarship and a practical outlook rooted in the imperatives of the Caribbean and global legal system.
We aim to produce research which informs policy making and development and ready and able graduates capable of leveraging the value of their degree for personal career opportunities in a complex and changing world while contributing to strengthening the role of law as the guardian of an inclusive democratic process of development.
Regional legal education at The UWI began nearly fifty years ago because, as Sir Hugh Wooding put it, “the time had come to [provide] West Indians with a legal education which will be more suitable to West Indian needs and aspirations” and because “the time was ripe for these territories to assume their own burdens and endeavour to find answers to their own problems in the institutional, educational and economic fields.”
The Faculty of Law was established at The University of the West Indies in 1970 with headquarters at the Cave Hill Campus. The Faculty of Law has had a presence on the Mona Campus since its inception with 24 students reading the Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree. 19 students enrolled at St. Augustine and 34 at the Cave Hill Campus in the same year. They all completed the second and third years of the LLB degree at Cave Hill. In the beginning at Mona, 5 first year courses were taught in a few classrooms in the Faculty of Arts and General Studies (now called the Faculty of Humanities and Education).
The Faculty opened a permanent state of the art three-storey building at 1 – 3 West Road with multimedia equipment in the classrooms, a student lounge, a fountain and a two-storey library. This is the building that all law students now call their home away from home.
In 2012, the Faculty of Law at the Mona Campus obtained full Faculty status thereby allowing students to pursue their Bachelor of Laws in Jamaica for 3 years. At that time, the Faculty had 9 academic staff members imparting 42 LLB courses, supported by 6 administrative members and 2 ancillary workers. In the last decade, MonaLaw’s academic staff has grown to 14 full-time lecturers, who offer both undergraduate and graduate legal education. Currently, 8 adjunct lecturers support the imparting of legal knowledge in 54 LLB courses and 10 graduate courses. These programmes are supported by 8 administrative staff members and 2 ancillary workers.
With this expansion, the first cohort of students graduated from MonaLaw in 2012 with an LLB degree. The graduate programme began in January 2015 with 1 student enrolled in the MPhil programme. In 2018, the first two MonaLaw postgraduate students received graduate law degrees. Today, MonaLaw’s undergraduate and graduate student population comes from at least thirteen Caribbean countries and includes international students from other parts of the world.
The UWI is the premier legal educational institution in the Commonwealth Caribbean. We are committed to excellence in legal education and as such, we have expanded our faculty and facilities to ensure that you have an exciting and rewarding intellectual experience. The study and discipline of law prepares you for a wide range of careers, including private practice, the judiciary, diplomatic corps, academia, international organizations and businesses.
The MonaLaw teachers are directly engaged in research and policy work aimed at revitalising Caribbean development and finding answers to problems faced in the region. The expansion of the Faculty and its staff increased greatly the range and quantity of MonaLaw research and its alignment with the needs of the Caribbean. MonaLaw academics are authors and co-authors of many specialised Caribbean legal texts and peer reviewed articles related to the legal environment in the region. At the same time, in the last decade, the expanded cadre of academic staff has amplified legal research related to Jamaica, where the Mona Campus is located.
You are urged to take advantage of all that our faculty has to offer, knowing that you will be richly rewarded, and in turn, you can reward others.
The MonaLaw, Western Jamaica Campus (WJC), located in the resort city of Montego Bay, is embarking on a new project for the semester 2019-2020 and beyond. This new programme of study will provide a stimulating and varied experience for students, enabling them to appreciate the legal aspects impacting the field of tourism. Student will be able to take a number of intensive courses over the period of twelve weeks. After successful completion, students will be awarded a certificate in “Tourism and the Law”
Law is both an academic and professional programme at The UWI, since the LLB degree is a prerequisite for qualification as an attorney-at-law in the English speaking Caribbean.
Entry into the legal profession of Commonwealth Caribbean countries is regulated by the law of the particular state. However, due to a regional agreement the basic requirements tend to follow a common pattern. A Legal Education Certificate is normally required by a prospective lawyer. This is granted by the (West Indian) Council of Legal Education to a student who successfully completes a two-year course of full time study at one of the Council’s three Law schools in Jamaica, Trinidad or the Bahamas.
Entry into a Law School will normally be granted to any holder of the U.W.I. LL.B. degree. Applicants with degrees from other universities are required to sit an entrance examination which is held in July of the entrance year.
Holders of the LLB degree can pursue career options that do not require a Legal Education Certificate (LEC). However, the traditional basic legal skills of concise and pertinent oral argument, systematic and relevant presentation of essential issues, clarity and precision of written options and detached and balanced judgment are also useful and reliable skills for other professions. These include the Civil and Police Service, Diplomacy and International Organizations, Accountancy,Banking and Commerce, Librarianship, Human Resource Management, Administration and Academia.