Careers

Attorney (Avoué)

Attorney (Avoué)

In Mauritius, an Attorney (Avoué) is a legal practitioner who provides legal advice and conducts legal proceedings. Their duties include preparing legal documentation, representing and defending a client’s legal interests, and attending meetings and negotiations.

• As an Attorney (Avoué), you’ll provide expert legal support and advice on personal and commercial issues.
• Attorneys (Avoués) take instructions from clients and advise on necessary courses of legal action.
• Clients can be individuals, groups, public sector organizations, or private companies.

Depending on your area of expertise, you can advise on a range of issues, including:

• Personal cases – buying and selling residential property, landlord and tenant agreements, wills and probate, divorce and family matters, personal injury claims, and criminal litigation.
• Commercial work – helping new enterprises get established, advising on complex corporate transactions (including mergers and acquisitions), and business-related disputes.
• Protecting rights – making sure individuals are treated fairly by public or private bodies and receive compensation if unfairly treated.

Once qualified, you can work in private practice, in-house for commercial or industrial organisations, in local or central government or the court service. The actual work carried out varies depending on the setting, your specialist area, and the case’s nature.

LPVC (LAW PRACTITIONERS VOCATIONAL COURSE)

To qualify as an Attorney in Mauritius, you must complete the LPVC.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

• Candidates should hold an LLB (Hons) with at least a Second Class, Second Division or a Maîtrise en Droit/Masters 1 (Mention: Assez Bien)
• or a law degree or other qualifications deemed acceptable by the Council for Vocation Legal Education (CVLE)

COUNCIL FOR VOCATIONAL LEGAL EDUCATION INSTRUCTIONS FOR BARRISTERS’ AND ATTORNEYS’ EXAMINATION, 2022

The Examinations will consist of:

• FIVE (5) written papers;
• and an oral test in Advocacy.

DURATION of written paper: 3 Hours

Subjects:
PAPER I – CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
PAPER II – CIVIL PROCEDURE
PAPER III – CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
PAPER IV – EVIDENCE
PAPER V – DRAFTING AND OPINION WRITING
PAPER VI – ADVOCACY

• Candidates will be expected to deal with Ethical issues applicable to the relevant branches of the legal profession in any of the Papers.
• Questions in all the FIVE WRITTEN PAPERS may be in one or more PARTS and may contain COMPULSORY questions.
• Questions must be answered in English unless, with regard to any particular question, it is expressly stated that the answer may be either in English or in French or where relevant extracts from French authorities need to be referred to.

At the start of each written paper, candidates will be allowed TEN MINUTES to study the question paper before they start writing.

Paper I will contain:

• FOUR questions on Constitutional Law out of which TWO must be answered
• FOUR questions on Administrative Law out of which TWO must be answered.

Paper II, III, IV will contain SIX questions out of which FOUR must be answered.

Paper V will be in two parts

Part I will be on Drafting will contain FOUR questions, out of which TWO must be answered.
Part II on Opinion Writing will be FOUR questions out of which TWO must be answered.

For Paper V, candidates will be expected to draft various legal documents like pleadings, affidavits, notices, notice and grounds of appeal, skeleton arguments, the agreement reached before court or mediation, and a simple contract.

For Paper VI, candidates will be supplied with a short three hours before the examination and will have a maximum of 15 minutes to address the Bench. The candidates will be expected to make submissions on facts and in law while using proper modes of address.

MARKING:

All FIVE papers and the Oral Test in Advocacy will be marked each on 100.

1) To pass in a paper, a candidate will have to score at least 50% of the marks. However, to succeed in an examination, the candidate must score at least 60% of the aggregate marks in respect of the SIX PAPERS.

The grades will be marked as follows:

• Grade A : 70% or more
• Grade B : 60% or more but less than 70%
• Grade C : 50% or more but less than 60%
• Grade D : 40% or more but less than 50%
• Grade E : Less than 40%

The percentage referred to here shall be a percentage of the total marks allotted in respect of a particular paper. 

2) Candidates obtaining 80% or more of the aggregate of marks in all the papers at one and the same sitting will obtain an Honours Certificate. The other successful candidates obtain 60% or more of the aggregate marks but less than 80% will obtain a pass certificate.

(3) A candidate will be allowed to a resit in not more than two papers provided that they:

(a) obtains the minimum overall percentage of 60%; and
(b) secures at least 40% in the paper(s); and
(c) passes in the other papers.

If a candidate secures at least a pass (50%) in the papers in which they have been allowed a resit, they will be deemed to have passed the whole examination, failing which they will, at any future test and subject to (4), be required to sit for the whole examination.

(4) Where a candidate had, at an examination held in the preceding year, scored not less than 70% in the oral test in Advocacy but sits again for the whole examination in the following year, they may, upon application to the Council, be exempted from taking the oral Advocacy test anew.

No candidate will be allowed more than SIX ATTEMPTS. These six attempts should be made within an overall period on not more than six years from the first attempt at the Vocational Examinations, except where the period is extended on good cause shown to the satisfaction of the Council.