With all that’s going on, the news in Thursday’s paper that a law school will open at University of St. Martin (USM) in September should not be overlooked. It’s no secret that the Dutch side has relatively few islanders among its corps of attorneys, prosecutors and judges.
That is certainly true when compared to, for example, Curaçao, where a law studies programme has been ongoing for decades. Some even joke that this has become a drawback there, because of “too many lawyers taking up cases and making trouble.”
Be that as it may, the lack of local legal expertise is certainly an issue for St. Maarten. There is a structural shortage of particularly persons qualified to properly analyse and draft legislation, with all consequences for the governing process.
Not that this latest initiative can solve the problem immediately. Doing so will take some time and especially continuity, but one has to start somewhere.
People should keep in mind that similar efforts were made in the past, going back to the days of the former University of the Netherlands Antilles (UNA). The need for professors and instructors to travel back and forth was a complicating obstacle at the time, along with insufficient resources.
Nevertheless, Finance Minister Richard Gibson assured there is now enough funding to guarantee the new programme at USM for many years, “once tuition fees are added.” The latter, of course, depends on the number of participants, but there at least appears to be considerable interest.
Also judging by what persons were on a committee that worked on this idea and presented its report, the project definitely deserves to be given the benefit of the doubt.
