The Bar Council of the Maldives (BCM) has held the oath taking ceremony of new lawyers.

BCM on Monday, held the Bar Admission Ceremony to admit new lawyers and commemorate the Maldives' first bar exam. The Ceremony was held at Dharubaaruge.

A total of 73 lawyers were admitted to the bar during the ceremony.

The ceremony was attended by the current and previous executive committee members, cabinet ministers, parliamentarians, judges, senior lawyers, legal academics and BCM’s development partners.

The event saw the oath taking ceremony of the new lawyers. As such, the oath was administered by the High Court Justice Al-Ustaz Hussain Mazeed.

Additionally, the new entrants were also presented with the practicing licenses during the ceremony.

Lawyers who had received their licenses under the Special Licensing Training Program (SLTP) in 2020, also received their licenses at the ceremony.

The practicing licenses were presented by the Minister of Higher Education Dr. Ibrahim Hassan, the first President of the Bar Council Al-Ustaz Maumoon Hameed, Mission Director of USAID to Maldives and Sri Lanka Gabriel Grau and Head of Office for American Bar Association, Maldives Rule of Law Initiative Al-Ustaza Humadha Ahmed.

The Bar Admission Ceremony also featured a special recognition awards segment in which five categories were recognized. They are the;

Top Achiever Awards, for those with outstanding results in the first Bar Exam,

Institutional Service Appreciation Award, presented to the development partners and institutions who contributed to strengthening rule of law and access to justice in the Maldives through supporting the Bar Exam,

Excellence Awards, awarded to the three persons who scored first place in the inaugural Bar Exam,

The Extraordinary Service Award and the Service Appreciation Award.