The Founder of MountCrest University College, Mr. Kwaku Ansa-Asare, has urged the government to ensure that the selection of schools under the new decentralised national bar system is done in the national interest, devoid of political considerations.
Speaking at a public lecture in Accra on May 7, he also called for the inclusion of private legal training institutions in the running of the newly introduced law practice course under the Legal Education Reform Bill recently passed by Parliament.
Ghana’s legal education and profession have long inherited their structure and framework from the British and over the years, very few attempts have been made to reform them.
In March 2026, Parliament passed the Legal Education Reform Bill, 2025 ending the monopoly of the Ghana School of Law in the professional training of lawyers.
This reform decentralizes professional training, allows accredited universities to offer the law practice course (LPC), and introduces a National Bar Examination.
The lecture which, contributed to the ongoing national conversations on legal training, professional standards and reforms was held on the theme; Ghana’s inherited Legal Profession: Legal Education at a Crossroads”.
Mr. Ansa-Asare who is a former Director of Legal Education and the Ghana School of Law charged the government to ensure fairness in the accreditation of faculties for the professional law course.
“Any attempt to exclude the private universities from running the law practice course may create the impression among the general public that the private law faculties are not good enough to train lawyers and that will be unfortunate,” he noted.
The government, he emphasised, must eschew favouritism and allow all faculties offering law programmes to run the LPC.
The Director of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies at the University of London, Prof. Carl Stychin, also shared insights on legal reforms introduced into the British legal system.
He noted that the number of LLB holders is enormous and keeps growing, but vast majority will not end up as barristers or solicitors in the traditional sense because of the way the law degree programme is designed.
He, therefore stressed that, “the law degree must be fit for purpose for a wide range of audiences otherwise it will fail the students”.
He called for skills development through what he described as “learning by doing,” which will offer clinical skills that are transferable. “This means whatever you learn is valuable whether you end up practicing law or not,” he explained.
He stressed that the law degree should offer employable skills, noting that the students must learn empathy and choice. “We live in a world of disinformation so the law degree should teach students how to discern truth from propaganda,” he added.
The Minister of Labour, Jobs and Employment, Dr Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo, who was a Special Guest at the lecture said the ongoing reforms in legal education would help to address the long-standing challenges in the legal training system.
The Rector of MountCrest University College, Prof. Helen Yitah explained that the lecture formed part of MountCrest’s thought leadership series aimed at promoting discussions on the future of legal education in Ghana.
The immediate past Rector of MountCrest University College, Ms. Irene Ansa-Asare Horsham, who is also a lawyer, expressed the hope that the lecture, which attracted legal practitioners, academics, students and journalists would deepen the discussions on the inherited structure of Ghana’s legal education, the ongoing reforms and opportunities for rethinking legal education in Ghana
Meanwhile, the Legal Education Reform Bill recently passed by Parliament is yet to receive Presidential assent to take full effect.
