By Bright Ntramah
President Akufo-Addo has warned that the quality of the Legal Profession will not be compromised despite efforts at opening up opportunities for more people to enter.
He said a badly trained Lawyer is a danger to society and will bring the Legal Profession into disrepute.
President Akufo-Addo was speaking at the opening of an International Conference on the future of Legal Education in Ghana and Africa at the Law Faculty of the University of Ghana, Legon.
He said despite limited resources and the struggles of new Faculties to employ qualified Law Teachers, the Government is poised to ensure every Ghanaian child can aspire to achieve his dream.
The four day conference being attended by lawyers from AU Member States will tackle the issues of the future of legal education on the Continent.
The Conference is being organized at a time when legal education in Ghana has come under criticism that the profession is the reserve of the elite.
Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, noted that under the new legal profession bill, the General Legal Council, GLC is the body that has the mandate to issue out license to law faculties for the professional training of lawyers.
”Schools offering law will be required to undertake the professional programme in tune with standards set by the General Legal Council. Upon the completion of the stipulated programme, the students will then be required to sit for a Bar examination conducted by the GLC”, he noted.
President Akufo-Addo said the effort at reforming the system, under which legal education currently operates in Ghana, it is necessary to accommodate current realities.
He therefore asked the Attorney-General to fast-track the balance of consultations on the Legal Profession Bill, and lay it before Cabinet without delay.
The Bill aims to address holistically the current challenges associated with legal education in Ghana and dispel the notion that the legal profession is a small club of mostly men, which is difficult to penetrate.
Speaker after Speaker justified the need to reform Ghana’s legal education.
