Just days after publicly speaking out about delays in obtaining their warrants, law graduates have now received confirmation that an awarding of warrants ceremony will take place on 3 April.
The news comes after mounting frustration among law graduates who had been left "in limbo," unable to practice law due to delays in obtaining their warrants, and after law graduate Jeremy Mifsud Bonnici told The Malta Independent last week that he felt "literally ignored" after studying for six years and completing all necessary qualifications.
Several law graduates were "stuck in professional limbo" due to delays in obtaining their warrants, leaving them unable to practice officially.
Mifsud Bonnici had received the call that he had passed his exams on 22 October 2024, yet he and his cohort had been waiting for an update on the ceremony for the awarding of their warrants, to practice as an advocate.
Speaking to The Malta Independent on Monday, Mifsud Bonnici confirmed that he received an email with an invitation for the Awarding of the Warrants Ceremony for one to practise the profession as Advocate and for one to practice the profession as Legal Procurator in Malta.
The ceremony will be held on Thursday 3 April.
Reacting, Mifsud Bonnici said that he felt relieved and hoped that the following ceremony in which lawyers must take oath in Court would not take long to occur either.
He also expressed some frustration as "it all coincidentally fell into place" after he posted on Facebook and spoke out publicly about the matter.
Without their warrants, lawyers are unable to certify documents or sign off on legal work, whether they are legal opinions or documents that require a lawyer's signature, which is particularly crucial in the corporate sector.
Lawyers involved in litigation are also unable to represent clients in court, and without a warrant, employees cannot justify requesting a pay raise.
Mifsud Bonnici had said that many law graduates also gain work experience during their studies and pointed out that several have been working full-time for more than a year, yet were unable to officially call themselves a lawyer.
A spokesperson for the Justice Ministry had previously said that the entity responsible for this process operates independently from the Ministry itself. The spokesperson had said that once the Committee for Lawyers and Legal Procurators, established under Article 3 of the Act on the Commission for the Administration of Justice, informed the Ministry that the process had been completed, the Ministry would then organise a formal ceremony for the granting of warrants to celebrate this important milestone in the legal journey of all new practitioners.