What is the Admission Council (Council)? The Council is established under section 25A of the Lawyers Act 1986.
What is the composition of the Council?
The Council is made up of the following members:
- the Attorney-General.
- the Chief Justice.
- the President of the Papua New Guinea Law Society (Society).
The Attorney General is the Chairman of the Council. All these members hold their seat in ex officio. This means that the officers who holds these position as members are not voted in. Instead, they hold these position because of their position as the Attorney General, the Chief Justice and the President of the Society, respectively.
What are the functions of the Council?
The Council is responsible for the admission of lawyers to practice in Papua New Guinea. The functions of the Council are set out in the Lawyers Act. The Lawyers Act gives the Council the power to make rules relating to admission to practice.
Rules of admission
If the Council makes any rules relating to admission, it will then give notice of the rules to the public by publishing it in the National Gazette. The Attorney General will be responsible for ensuring that the notice is published in the National Gazette. The rules will come in force upon publication of the notice. If, however, the notice itself sets out a date that the rules will come into operation, then that date will be the date of operation and not the date of publication.
An example of a rule made by the Council is the Lawyers Admission Rules 1990 which set out the prescribed forms for the following:
- Form 1 – Certificate of Training issued by the Chairman of the Council and the Director of the Legal Training Institute.
- Form 2 – Notice of Intention to Apply for Admission as a Lawyer.
- Form 3 – Lawyer’s Oath.
- Form 4 – Roll of Lawyers.
- Form 5 – Certificate of Admission.
All in all, the Council is responsible making rules in relating to admission of applicants to practice as lawyers in Papua New Guinea.
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