KUALA LUMPUR: The New Bar Course (NBC) will be introduced to replace the Certificate in Legal Practice (CLP) examination under a new approach that places greater emphasis on practical training and professional skills, says M. Kulasegaran.
The Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) said this follows the Legal Profession Qualifying Board’s (LPQB) review of the Common Bar Course (CBC) curriculum on March 31 through a dedicated committee.
He said the committee had proposed that the CBC be renamed the NBC and be applied to individuals who are not qualified persons under the Legal Profession Act 1976, whether they obtained their law degrees locally or abroad.
"Under the NBC, which will replace the CLP examination, the LPQB will introduce two programmes known as the Conversion Course and the Legal Practice Postgraduate Certificate (LPPC),” he said during Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat on Monday (June 22).
He was responding to a question from Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan (PN-Kota Baru) on the latest status of the NBC and the articled clerkship pathway review undertaken by the LPQB.
Kulasegaran said the Conversion Course would be a three-month online programme for overseas graduates requiring a structured introduction to Malaysia's legal system, including core substantive laws.
He added that the course would be conducted through a learning management system (LMS) developed by the LPQB and assessed through computer-based assessments.
Meanwhile, the LPPC would be a six-month vocational programme for both local and overseas graduates, focusing on legal practice before they undergo pupillage.
"The LPPC is conceived as a new approach that places greater emphasis on practical skills development than the CLP examination, with a more relevant assessment method,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said the LPQB had established an NBC Task Force on April 27 to undertake a study titled "A Study to Develop the Operational Framework for the New Bar Course (Conversion Course and Legal Practice Postgraduate Certificate): From Policy to Practice".
The study is aimed at developing the operational framework for the NBC and ensuring the smooth implementation of the proposed course.
Kulasegaran said the task force comprises experts from public universities, private higher education institutions and members of the Malaysian Bar, with the 12-month study running from May 1, 2026, until April 30, 2027.
On the articled clerkship pathway, Kulasegaran said the LPQB had also established a special committee to undertake a Strategic Review and Enhancement of the Articled Clerk Pathway, with the nine-month study scheduled to run from March 1 to Nov 30, 2026. – Bernama
