Court halts LSB bar exams
Spira Tlhankane | Friday June 19, 2026 11:24
This comes after a group of 21 aspiring lawyers from Gaborone Universal College (GUC) filed an urgent High Court application against the LSB, alleging they were unfairly denied registration for the June 2026 Bar Examinations.
Delivering the ruling on Monday, Justice Godfrey Nthomiwa said the respondent in the matter, being the LSB, shall not proceed with the scheduling and administration of the 2026 bar examinations pending the hearing and final determination of the matter. In the matter, which is now set down for hearing/argument on July 16 in Gaborone, the applicants are seeking an order declaring the LSB's refusal to register them for the June 2026 Bar Examinations unlawful, irrational, and unreasonable. They are also asking the court to set aside the decision and direct that they be registered and permitted to sit for examinations.
The applicants said that having completed their studies and obtained their qualifications, they applied for registration for the June 2026 Bar Examinations in April 2026. Distressingly, they added, on 29 May 2026, LSB informed them that it would not accede to their applications to sit the examinations. They said it is not clear from the above why LSB says it is not satisfied that they obtained their degrees by examination conducted by Leeds Beckett University. They said that if the LSB had genuine doubts, the logical thing to do would have been to ask them to provide clarification or to seek it directly from Leeds Beckett University.
“I hereby certify this matter is of such a nature that it warrants urgent attention and intervention by this Court. The urgency arises from the Respondents’ refusal on 29 May 2026 to register the Applicants for the June 2026 Attorneys’ Admission Examinations, notwithstanding that the said examinations are scheduled to commence on 22 June 2026,” the applicants’ attorneys said in the application. They indicated that the matter is imminent, looking at the commencement of the examinations, the loss of an examination cycle, and the prejudice arising from delayed admission.
“The Applicants continue to suffer ongoing prejudice due to the Respondents’ refusal to permit them to sit the June 2026 Bar Examinations. Unless urgent relief is granted, the Applicants will be excluded from the June 2026 examination cycle, which will result in a delay of approximately twelve (12) months or more in their professional progression and admission to practice. Delays in hearing this matter will render the relief sought moot, as the examination cycle will have passed, thereby effectively defeating the purpose of the Application and prejudicing the Applicants irreparably,” the applicants’ attorney said as they filed the urgent application.
“The Applicants are not abstract litigants. The Applicants are aspiring legal practitioners who have spent years preparing for entry into the legal profession. They have invested tuition fees, study time, examination preparation, family resources, and personal effort in pursuit of a lawful professional objective. The refusal has caused profound distress and uncertainty. For many of the Applicants, the June 2026 Bar Examinations represent the next necessary step towards pupillage, employment, admission, and the ability to earn a living in the legal profession. To put it differently, to better their lives,” Somolokae said in the affidavit.
Somolokae added that the applicants have not asked the Respondent for preferential treatment, but they have rather asked to be permitted to write the same examinations as everyone else. “They are prepared to be assessed on the merits of their performance. The Respondent's decision closes the door in a final fashion before the applicants could even enter the examination room. It deprives them of the opportunity to prove themselves, and that is why the intervention of this court is necessary,” Somolokae further emphasised.
“The Respondent does not exercise an unfettered discretion in relation to applications to sit for the Bar Examinations. It exercises a statutory and regulatory power. That power must be exercised lawfully, rationally, fairly, consistently, and for the purpose for which it was conferred. The decision is too far isolated from the Statute itself, and we explain why that is the case below. The Applicants’ case is that the Respondent has acted outside the proper limits of its statutory mandate,” the applicants further noted. The applicants added that LSB is empowered to administer the Bar Examinations and to ensure compliance with the requirements prescribed by law. They said it is not empowered to create additional eligibility requirements that are not found in the Legal Practitioners Act or the Regulations made under it. The applicants highlighted that LSB's decision is unreasonable and irrational. They said LSB's refusal was a breach of their legitimate expectation to be admitted because they expected to be permitted to register for and sit the June 2026 Bar Examinations. They claim that the Respondent’s decision discriminates unfairly against the Applicants because other graduates who have obtained their degree through the same arrangement with Leeds Beckett University have previously been permitted to write the examinations.
“We pause here again to emphasize that we are not claiming that we would pass the exams outright. We are putting it before this Court that we have been robbed of the Opportunity to do so in an unjust manner. We reiterate that the Respondent's decision closes the door before the Applicants in a final fashion. It deprives them of the Opportunity to prove themselves, and that is why the intervention of this Court is necessary,” they emphasised.
With the matter set for hearing next month, the court has since ordered LSB to deliver its replying affidavit on or before June 24, 2026. “The parties shall file and serve their respective heads of arguments on or before July 9, 2026,” Nthomiwa stated in the ruling.