The President of the Ghana Law Society (GLS), Rockson-Nelson Etse Kwami Dafeamekpor, Esq., has announced a new reform that will turn pupilage into twelve months of structured national service for fresh lawyers.
He made the announcement in his welcome address at the Annual Conference of the Ghana Law Society in Accra on 19 September 2026, held on the theme Law Reforms: The Role of the Ghanaian Lawyer.
He said the scheme is one of seven pillars in the Society’s Bar Reform Programme.
Mr. Dafeamekpor said the current system “overproduces lawyers for Accra and underproduces legal service for Ghana.”
He noted that over 1,500 students are admitted to the professional law programme each year and over 1,200 are called to the Bar, only to be left to a saturated and unsupervised market in Accra and Kumasi. Fewer than 8,000 lawyers hold active practicing certificates, over 72% of them practice in Accra, Kumasi and Tema, and more than 190 Districts have no law firm.
He described the present six-month pupilage as “six months of carrying files, photocopying processes, loitering in corridors, unpaid, unmentored, unmonitored, and uninspired,” adding that it “teaches hierarchy but not humanity.”
According to him, a nation that invests so much in training its lawyers has a moral right to demand a year of structured national service from them.
“And a young lawyer who has sacrificed so much to be trained has a right to demand dignified mentorship and remuneration in return. Piecemeal tinkering will no longer suffice.” He added.
The Ghana Law Society-National Service Scheme (GLS-NSS):
The scheme will be run jointly by the GLS and the National Service Secretariat under a Memorandum of Understanding to be executed this year.
Fresh lawyers will be posted to districts for twelve months as: Assistant Legal Officers in District Assemblies, drafting bye-laws and helping to raise internally generated funds, Staff of district offices of the Legal Aid Commission, defending the poor and vulnerable Investigators in district offices of CHRAJ, Research Assistants to District Magistrates and Circuit, Judges in the Judicial Service, to improve judgment writing and speed up justice delivery, Assistants in Regional Lands Commissions, on title registration and alternative dispute resolution.
Staff of Regional Offices of the Attorney-General, strengthening prosecutorial and civil justice
Supervision and Monitoring:
Every service lawyer will be expected to keep a Pupilage Logbook, submit monthly reports to a Regional Pupil Master appointed by the Society, and complete five mandatory CPD modules: Ethics and Professional Conduct, Conveyancing and Land Governance, Advocacy and Legal Aid, Local Government Law, and Legislative Drafting.
Each will also have a Senior Mentor at the Bar and a Field Supervisor at the place of posting.
Remuneration:
Lawyers will receive the standard National Service allowance, topped up by the proposed Ghana Law Society Pupilage Support Fund and support from development partners.
“We will no longer produce lawyers who cannot afford to be lawyers,” he said.
Certification:
On completion, each lawyer will receive a Certificate of Pupilage and a Certificate of Community Service.
Both will be required to renew the first annual Solicitor’s Licence.
“We must earn the right to private practice by first serving the public,” he said.
