The New Straits Times reports that the Malaysian government has agreed in principle to implement significant reforms to the Legal Profession Qualifying Board (LPQB), the body responsible for overseeing admission into the legal profession. According to Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform), M. Kulasegaran, the Cabinet approved several key policy decisions on 1 August aimed at improving the LPQB’s accountability, governance, and operational effectiveness.
A central reform proposal is the transformation of the LPQB into a corporate body, enabling it to function with clearer legal authority and greater administrative autonomy. The government also intends to expand the Board’s composition to ensure broader stakeholder representation. Under the proposal, membership will include not only the Attorney General and representatives from the Malaysian Bar, but also academic representatives from private higher learning institutions and legal practitioners from Sabah and Sarawak. Kulasegaran stated that a more diverse board will strengthen decision-making and improve administration of qualification standards.
The reforms were prompted by longstanding concerns that the LPQB has not fulfilled certain statutory duties, particularly relating to the articled clerkship pathway. Although articled clerkship is expressly provided for under the Legal Profession Act 1976, the LPQB discontinued the programme in 1985 without obtaining formal government approval. Kulasegaran described this as a serious oversight and “a clear act of negligence.”
On 7 October, the Federal Court affirmed that the LPQB had acted beyond its legal powers in abolishing the articled clerkship programme. The proposed reforms are therefore intended to modernise the Board, reinforce accountability, and ensure that qualification pathways into the legal profession are administered lawfully and transparently.