By Raphael Likaka
Renowned legal practitioner, John Suzi Banda, has commended law students at the University of Malawi for launching a Students Law Journal, saying the journal is a step in the right direction for the legal profession.
Suzi Banda expressed his appreciation on the publication of the journal at the University of Malawi in Zomba where he presided over the journal launch.
Banda said it was ideal for law students at the University of Malawi to publish journals which should be the learning basis for students that pursue legal studies, adding that university education without writing journals serves no purpose.
Suzi Banda further said universities are meant to produce people of higher academic calibre capable of publishing journals.
“The good thing about journals is that they’re tools that help to facilitate research on legal issues,” he said, adding that “It is ideal for legal practitioners to read journals and analyse issues as a way of preparing for court cases”.
He therefore called on the Students Law Society to be confident enough in writing journals saying this was the right direction in the legal profession.
Suzi Banda added that there should be a right procedure in the publication of the journals to ensure that the journals are accessible and relevant.
He said journals provide students an opportunity to contribute in shaping the legal scholarship discourse and the journals have potential to contribute invaluably to the development of the law by influencing statutory law reforms.
“A law journal offers an opportunity for unbiased reflection of specific legal issues which is critical to the proper development of the law and alternatively the development of the students as legal scholars
“It is also performs important function of facilitating access to the law.
“Finally, it gives an opportunity for students to enhance their writing editing and legal reasoning skills,” he said.
He then called on University of Malawi law studies alumni to help the Students Law Society with financial resources to help the society to produce and publish journals without difficulties.
President of the Students Law Society, Douglas Shati said the launch of Students Law Society Journal indicates that law studies have gone a step ahead.
“The publication of the journal will help people to understand the law,” Shati said, adding that the publication will also help people to understand legal issues and ways to seek legal assistance.
The Students Law Journal is a publication of articles on various issues presenting commentary on emerging or topical developments in the law and often specializing in a particular area of the law or legal information. The journal was last published in 2010 hence the urgent need to revise it.
