Law Development Centre

Law Development Centre (LDC)
Motto Know the Law
Established 1970
Type Public
Director Frank Nigel Othembi
Administrative staff
 50+
Students 600+[1]
Location Kampala, Uganda Uganda
Campus Urban
Website Homepage

The Law Development Centre (LDC), is an educational institution for higher learning that offers various legal courses, ranging from one month to one year.

Overview

The LDC is the only institution in the whole of Uganda, that offers the bar course leading to the award of the postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice (Dip.Leg.Pract). Kenya and Tanzania, each have similar institutions which offer similar courses in their countries. In the early 2000s, the LDC was plagued by a high failure rate among students, sometimes as high as 90% in some years. The Center, together with the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and the Uganda Law Society, have designed changes that include a pre-admission examination for students, continuing education requirements for LDC lectureres and instruction in teaching methods for all academic staff. The LDC library has also been updated with written literature as well as increased Internet access for students.[2]

Location

The center is located on Makerere Hill, along Makerere Road, just outside the southern perimeter of the main campus of Makerere University. This location is less than 1 kilometre (0.62 mi), south of the Faculty of Law at Makerere University and approximately 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi), by road, north of Kampala's central business district.[3] The coordinates of the Law Development Center are:0°19'30.0"N, 32°34'08.0"E (Latitude:0.325000; Longitude:32.568889).[4]

History

The Law Development Center (LDC) was established in 1970 by the Law Development Centre Act, as a government-owned institution of higher learning responsible for "research, law reform, publications, law reporting and community legal services". LDC is managed by the Management Committee which is responsible for policy formulation. The policies formulated by the Management Committee are implemented by the Director through various institutional departments. The first Director of the Law Development Centre was Justice Kutlu Fuad. He was succeeded in 1972 by Francis Muzingu Ssekandi, who was later elevated to the High Court in 1974 and in 1978 to Uganda's first Court of Appeals, later renamed the Uganda Supreme Court. The current Director in Frank Nigel Othembi.[5]

Administration

Administratively, the Center is divided into the following departments:[6]

(a) Library Department (b) Library Publishers Department (c) Finance Department (d) Department of Research and Publications (e) Legal Education & Legal Aid (f) Department of Law Reporting (g) Department of Law

The current eligible Ugandan Universities whose law students are allowed to join the Law Development Centre includes the following:

Courses

As of July 2014, the courses offered at the Law Development Centre include the following: core and major subjects are :Criminal Procedure, Civil Procedure, Commercial Law, Land Transaction Law, Domestic & Family Law. Other subjects include: Art of Advocacy, Judicial Conduct, Professional Ethics, Legislative Drafting & Accountancy for Lawyers. The center employs full-time academic staff and also uses the services of several visiting professionals and people with experience who are drawn from among a wide selection of members of the Ugandan professional legal community.[7]

  1. Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice - This twelve-months course is also called The Bar Course. It is offered to graduates of Ugandan and recognized law schools, prior to enrollment as an advocate and authorization to practice law in Uganda.
  2. The Diploma in Law - This one year course is designed to train paralegals in the basic principles of law. Participants are mainly from the army, police, prisons, local government and other government departments. The course is also open to anyone who holds the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) who wishes to enhance their opportunities for further studies in law and employment.
  3. Other Courses - The Center will, from time to time, organize short courses, lasting anywhere from one to six months, for lawyers and non-lawyers in specific aspects of the law, as the need arises.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni include:

See also

References

  1. ↑ Nassaka, Flavia (17 September 2012). "Uganda: Makerere Gets More Entrants to LDC". East African Business Week (Kampala) via AllAfrica.com. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  2. ↑ Ssenkabirwa, Al-Mahdi (6 June 2011). "Embarrassing Mass Failures: Has LDC Got A Cure At Last?". Daily Monitor. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  3. ↑ "Map Showing Central Kampala And The Law Development Center With Distance Marker". Globefeed.com. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  4. ↑ Google, . "Location of Law Development Center At Google Maps". Google Maps. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  5. ↑ Lule, Jeff Andrew (6 April 2012). "LDC Gets New Director". New Vision. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  6. ↑ LDC, . "The Departments of the Law Development Center". Law Development Center (LDC). Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  7. ↑ LDC, . "Services of Law Development Center". Law Development Center (LDC). Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  8. ↑ "Special Sitting of the Supreme Court of Belize". Press Office of the Government of Belize. 2001-03-28. Retrieved 2012-04-20.

External links

Coordinates: 00°19′30″N 32°34′08″E / 0.32500°N 32.56889°E