Ghana’s Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr. Dominic Ayine, announced a transformative overhaul of the country’s legal education system on Monday, July 28th, 2025.
The proposed reforms, unveiled during the Government Accountability Series in Accra, aim to dismantle the centralized admissions structure of the Ghana School of Law and replace it with a national bar examination.
The centerpiece of the reform is a new legal education bill, expected to be submitted to the Cabinet in August, which will decentralize professional legal training and open the bar to all qualified graduates with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree.
Under the new model, LLB graduates from accredited universities will complete a one-year Bar Practice Programme at their respective institutions before sitting for a standardized national bar exam to qualify for legal practice.
“The bill will abolish the Ghana School of Law system,” Dr. Ayine declared, drawing a comparison to the accounting profession’s model. “Universities will be allowed to provide practical legal education internally, and successful students will write a national bar exam, just like what is done by the Institute of Chartered Accountants.”
The announcement addresses long-standing criticisms of Ghana’s current legal education framework, which has been faulted for its exclusivity and limited capacity.
For years, the Ghana School of Law, the sole institution responsible for professional legal training, has faced a backlog of applicants, leaving thousands of qualified LLB graduates from both public and private universities unable to secure admission.
“We are shifting from exclusion to inclusion,” Dr. Ayine said, emphasizing the government’s commitment to ensuring “that all qualified LLB holders have a clear and merit-based path to becoming lawyers.”
The reform comes at a critical juncture for Ghana’s legal sector, which has struggled to meet the growing demand for legal professionals amid an expanding economy and increasing complexity in legal disputes.
According to information from the Ghana Bar Association, a total of 3,213 lawyers had been registered as practicing laws in 2021.
By decentralizing training and leveraging the capacity of accredited universities, the government hopes to produce more lawyers to serve in courts, businesses, and public institutions across the country.
Dr. Ayine revealed that the final draft of the legal education bill was submitted to his deputy, Dr. Justice Srem-Sai, for review on Sunday, July 27, signaling the government’s urgency to push the reforms forward.
This article was edited with AI and reviewed by human editors
