Parliament has passed the Legal Education Bill, 2025 subject to presidential assent in an attempt to overhaul legal education in Ghana.
The legislation establishes a Council for Legal Education and Training to oversee and regulate legal education while setting uniform curriculum standards across institutions.
The new reform is seeking to transfer or distribute professional legal training from the Ghana School of Law to accredited universities, effectively ending the institution’s long-standing monopoly.
Under the new arrangement when approved universities will offer a Law Practice Training Course designed to prepare candidates for a National Bar Examination.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament, Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga said the passage of the Bill delivers on the National Democratic Congress (NDC)’s pledge to expand access to legal education and ensure fairness in the system.
“As has been typical of the NDC, promises made are delivered. We assured law students that we would implement reforms to guarantee equity, fairness, and access to legal education,” he stated.
Minority Leader Osahene Alexander Afenyo-Markin on his part criticized the government, arguing that while the reforms are commendable, other key campaign promises remain unfulfilled.
“All of us have contributed to this process. This is not a partisan bill, even though it was a campaign promise. Mr Speaker, they also pledged to establish a Women’s Bank, yet two years on, nothing has been done,” he said.
The following five Universities are scheduled to commence the professional law programme in September: Ghana School of Law, University of Ghana, University of Cape Coast (UCC), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA)
