120 ZIALE students challenge three-attempt rule in High Court

The High Court has been asked to halt the implementation of the Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education (ZIALE) Student Rules, 2025, after 120 students challenged the new regulations, arguing that the three-attempt limit for the Legal Practitioners’ Qualifying Examination (LPQE) cannot lawfully be applied to students who enrolled under earlier rules.

The students, led by Anna Nyirongo, have petitioned the Lusaka High Court for judicial review, citing the Minister of Justice and ZIALE as the first and second respondents, respectively.

According to the application, the students are enrolled under the Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education (Student) Rules of 1985 and 2021 and contend that the 2025 Rules unfairly affect those who commenced their studies under the earlier regulatory frameworks.

They argued that applying the new rules to continuing students would amount to unlawful retrospective application, depriving them of accrued rights, legitimate expectations and the opportunity to complete the LPQE under the rules that were in force when they enrolled.

The applicants further contended that ZIALE’s decision to implement the 2025 Rules would prevent some students from sitting repeat examinations or completing the professional qualification programme despite having already progressed under the previous regulations.

They also claim that some students have already been excluded from sitting examinations, denied opportunities to rewrite failed papers, while others had petitions rejected without being provided with individualised reasons.

The students submit that the ZIALE Act does not empower the Minister of Justice to make rules with retrospective effect in the absence of express statutory authority.

They argued that the impugned decisions have delayed or prevented them from completing their legal training, thereby affecting their professional progression, career prospects and eligibility for admission to legal practice.

The applicants are seeking a declaration that the promulgation and retrospective application of the 2025 Rules are illegal, procedurally improper and unreasonable.

They further want the High Court to quash the provisions of the Rules to the extent that they apply retrospectively and to nullify ZIALE’s decision to enforce them against the applicants.

In addition, they are seeking an order compelling ZIALE to allow them to complete the LPQE under the regulatory framework that existed when they enrolled.

The applicants have also asked the court to grant leave to commence judicial review proceedings and order that such leave operate as a stay of the impugned decisions pending determination of the matter. They further seek an expedited hearing.

In their application, the students state that although Statutory Instrument No. 49 of 2025 was promulgated last year, it was not implemented during the 2026 repeat examinations and is intended to take effect for the 2027 examinations, creating what they describe as a real and imminent threat to their academic progression and future admission to legal practice.

Under Statutory Instrument No. 49 of 2025, students are limited to three attempts to pass each subject in the LPQE.

Students who fail a subject after three attempts are barred from rewriting that examination for three years.

The Rules further require students who fail more than three subjects, or who exhaust the three permitted attempts in any subject, to re-enrol and restart the programme as first-year students, forfeiting credits previously earned.

They also provide that students who pass fewer than four subjects on their first attempt must retake all subjects, including those they had already passed.

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