The Ghana Law Society is proposing a restructuring of post-qualification training that could see newly trained lawyers undertake National Service in district assemblies, Legal Aid offices and courts across the country.
President of the Society, Rockson-Nelson Etse Dafeamekpor, says the proposal is intended to address gaps in access to legal services, particularly outside Ghana’s major cities.
Speaking at the Society’s maiden Annual Bar Conference, Dafeamekpor criticised the current attachment system, saying it has failed to provide many young lawyers with meaningful practical training.
“Six months of attachment has become, for many of our young lawyers, six months of carrying files, photocopying processes, loitering in corridors of courts and now, unpaid, unmentored, unmonitored and uninspired,” he said.
Under the proposed arrangement, young lawyers could be posted to Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to assist with legal reviews, while others could serve with the Legal Aid Commission and district courts.
Dafeamekpor said the reform could simultaneously improve practical training and take legal services to communities currently underserved by lawyers.
He said Ghana has fewer than 8,000 lawyers with active practising certificates and claimed more than 190 districts do not have a single law firm.
“This is not a gap. This is a crisis,” he said.
The GLS President said converting the current training period into National Service would also allow young lawyers to obtain National Service certificates while providing legal services outside Accra and other major urban centres.
