Putrajaya moves to scrap CLP, roll out new two-stage bar qualification

THE government is moving to phase out the long-standing Certificate in Legal Practice (CLP), replacing it with a new two-stage pathway aimed at producing more practice-ready lawyers.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform), M. Kulasegaran, said the proposed New Bar Course (NBC) will prioritise hands-on legal skills over traditional exam-based assessment.

Under the plan, law graduates — particularly those from overseas — will first undergo a three-month online Conversion Course designed to ground them in Malaysia’s legal system, including core substantive law.

This will be followed by a six-month Legal Practice Postgraduate Certificate (LPPC), a vocational programme focused on practical legal work before candidates proceed to pupillage.

“The LPPC is conceived as a new approach that emphasises practical skill development, unlike the CLP, with more relevant methods of assessment,” Kulasegaran told the Dewan Rakyat.

The Conversion Course will be delivered via a dedicated Learning Management System being developed by the Legal Profession Qualifying Board (LPQB), with assessments conducted through computer-based testing.

The shift marks a significant overhaul of Malaysia’s legal qualification framework, with the NBC expected to replace the CLP entirely for those not already recognised under the Legal Profession Act 1976 — including both local and foreign graduates.

Kulasegaran said the LPQB completed its curriculum study for the course on March 31, before establishing a task force on April 27 to map out its implementation.

The 12-month study, which runs from May 1 this year until April 30, 2027, aims to develop a full operational framework to translate policy into practice.

The task force includes experts from public universities, private institutions, and the Malaysian Bar.

At the same time, Putrajaya is also revisiting an alternative route into the legal profession — the articled clerkship system, which was abolished in 1985.

A separate task force was formed on February 23 to study its potential revival, with research running from March 1 to November 30 this year.

The first phase, which included a comparative review of 10 countries, has already been completed. – June 22, 2026