A justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Ernest Gaewu, has admonished the class of 2000 batch of the Ghana Bar Association to take up mentorship, advocacy and reform to help redefine the legal profession and education for the next generation.
The millennium lawyers are celebrating their silver jubilee since they graduated from the Ghana School of Law.
Twenty-five years on, the 2000 class of the Ghana Bar Association members comprises individuals, including justices of superior courts, politicians, high-ranking security officials, among others.
Themed redefining legal education for enhanced democracy, the 25th anniversary celebration brought together a plethora of lawyers from different sectors across the country.
Speaking at the launch of their 25th anniversary celebration, keynote speaker and member of the class, Justice Ernest Gaewu, urged the lawyers to take active steps to redefine legal education in the country.
“Much of what is taught in the lecture hall still centres on technical proficiency. Case law, statutes, and procedural rules are vital but not sufficient.
“To redefine legal education for the future, we must begin by asking the question, what kind of lawyers does democracy need today?
“It needs lawyers who are not only legal technicians but also civic leaders, critical thinkers, ethical actors, and empathetic advocates,” Justice Gaewu emphasised.
Chairman of the Planning Committee of the anniversary celebration, Isaac Achiampong, urged support for the new bill proposed by the Attorney- General to open legal education in the country.
“We have no specific objection to expanding that scope to open up the avenues for more people when it comes to legal education. And so, if we get to a point where there can be one lawyer for every 20 people, it shouldn’t be bad, except that what we need to do is not to lose focus on the quality of the education that we seek to deliver,” he said.
Director General of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police Service and member of the committee, Commissioner of Police Lydia Donkor, underscored the need to adopt artificial intelligence in legal education.
“AI is an area that, as an institution, as the Ghana Police Service or even the legal fraternity, we should be focusing on what AI presents and what modern technological advancements present in all facets of life.
So, for us in criminal investigation, we are opening up to that, and we are actually looking at areas in which we can educate or sensitise our detectives in the area of artificial intelligence.
The anniversary week will mark several activities, including career counselling sessions with junior high school students and the donation of texts of four core subjects to the Independence Avenue Basic Schools in Accra.
