Full CLP passes drop to lowest in recent years

 Only 158, or 19%, of the 826 candidates obtained full passes this year.

In results announced by the Legal Profession Qualifying Board last week, 129 candidates (16%) obtained conditional passes, having passed four out of five papers.

PETALING JAYA:

The percentage of full passes in the 2026 Certificate in Legal Practice (CLP) examination has dropped to 19%, the lowest recorded in recent years.

According to results published on the Legal Profession Qualifying Board (LPQB) website on Sept 22, only 158 of the 826 candidates achieved full passes.

Another 129 candidates obtained conditional passes, awarded to those who clear four out of the five papers. These candidates are permitted three attempts at passing the remaining subject.

The supplementary examination is also conducted once a year.

The latest figures mark the fourth consecutive year of decline in full passes.

In 2025, 189 candidates (21%) out of 921 succeeded.

In 2024, the figure was 332 candidates (30%), while in 2023, 439 students passed in the first batch and 162 in the second, making up 34% of the total cohort.

Back in 2022, there were 310 full passes, or 30% of candidates.

The 2026 examination could be the penultimate CLP sitting, as the LQPB has announced plans to replace it with the New Bar Course (NBC) beginning in 2028.

The move follows years of criticism over the CLP’s notoriously low pass rates.

Much of that criticism stems from the strict rules governing repeat attempts.

Candidates who fail are allowed to re-sit the exam a maximum of four times within five years—a stipulation that has prevented many law graduates from entering practice.

Under the NBC, candidates will undergo two stages of assessment, with most components conducted through computer-based testing, supplemented by practical evaluations.

This marks a complete overhaul of the current qualification system, which requires law graduates to sit for five written papers in a single annual examination.

The NBC is expected to modernise the pathway to practice, aligning it more closely with contemporary professional standards.

The Malaysian Bar has been calling for a common examination for all law graduates in a bid to standardise the entry system for law graduates.

At present, graduates from public universities, the government-linked Multimedia University and certain recognised foreign institutions are exempted from sitting for the CLP before commencing pupillage. - FMT