THERE is no passing quota for the Certificate in Legal Practice (CLP) examination, says M. Kulasegaran.
The Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) said candidates were assessed on merit, with a minimum pass mark of 40 for each subject.
Kulasegaran said an earlier report on the 2026 CLP pass rate covered only the main examination and did not include the supplementary examination, which is scheduled for today.
He added that the CLP main examination results would be announced in November after the Legal Profession Qualifying Board approved the supplementary examination results.
He was responding to a supplementary question from Dr Sivakumar Varatharaju Naidu (PH- Batu Gajah), who said only 158 candidates, or 19% of the 826 who sat for the examination, obtained full passes.
Sivakumar asked what action was being taken to address the declining pass rate while maintaining standards in the legal profession.
Kulasegaran said the CLP was a professional examination and differed from a university law degree examination. He said many CLP candidates were graduates of overseas universities in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, where they had studied common law.
“Upon returning to Malaysia, they need to sit for the CLP, which is a professional examination on Malaysian law,” he said, adding that some candidates had not prepared sufficiently before sitting for the examination.
He added that some candidates could not identify the legal issues raised in examination questions, apply the relevant laws to the facts given, or cite the relevant legal provisions and case law.
“These are matters addressed by the board,” he said.
Separately, Kulasegaran said the New Bar Course (NBC), which would replace the CLP examination, would provide a more structured route for prospective lawyers.
The Legal Profession Qualifying Board set up an NBC Task Force on April 27 this year to develop an operational framework for the new course.
The NBC would comprise two programmes: a three-month Conversion Course and a six-month Legal Practice Postgraduate Certificate programme.
The Conversion Course is intended for holders of non-qualifying law degrees from recognised overseas institutions. It will introduce them to the Malaysian legal system and core Malaysian laws.
