The new institution, the Liberia School of Law (LSL), will open its doors in November, offering students a first law degree, following its recent provisional accreditation by the National Commission on Higher Education. All students seeking admission to LSL must have at least a bachelor’s degree and pass a rigorous law school admission test.Â
This is the first time a new law school has been launched in Liberia since the founding of the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law at the University of Liberia 70 years ago in 1954.
According to a statement issued by LSL in Monrovia today, “many of those involved in the founding of this institution are graduates of the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law, to which they owe a deep debt of gratitude for providing them a first-rate legal education.” The statement added, however, that “their experience teaching and practicing law has led them to the conclusion that legal education and the practice of law generally in Liberia will benefit immensely from the presence of another law school in the country.”
Based in Monrovia, on the Capitol By-Pass, LSL boasts a modern library that provides students online access to domestic and international resources, including the Westlaw database that provides real-time access to judicial decisions, statutes, regulations and other laws of the United States, the United Kingdom, and other countries around the world. The LSL campus also boasts a well-appointed student lounge and free campus-wide WIFI services.
The LSL faculty includes some renowned Liberian lawyers and scholars, including former Chief Justice, Francis Korkpor; former Dean of the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law, Negbalee Warner; National Elections Commissioner, Boakai Dukuly; human rights lawyer and seasoned legal practitioner, Tiawan Gongloe; former insurance executive and Professor of Insurance Law at the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law, Saye Gbalazeh; and Kwame Clement, whose experience include practicing law in the United States as an Antitrust and Securities Associate at the renowned Arnold and Porter Law Firm, as well as a Senior Counsel at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
The LSL faculty will also feature a number of Visiting Professors including, Paul S. Mandell who holds a J.D. from Yale, where he was a Senior Editor of the Yale Law Journal and Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Law & Policy Review. Paul is the immediate past Chair of both the Yale Law School Fund Board, and the University of Maryland College Park Foundation Board of Trustees, and currently serves on the Executive Committees of these two boards.
Richard M. Lucas is another LSL Visiting Professor, who also holds a J.D. from Yale Law School, where he served as Managing Editor of the Yale Law & Policy Review. He also previously served as an Adjunct Professor at the George Washington University Law School.
The LSL statement said the institution will give primacy to recruiting and training students capable of using their legal skills and knowledge to champion policies and causes that promote democratic governance and inclusive development.