The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dr. Dominic Akuritinga Ayine has outlined government’s plan to reform the legal education system.
Speaking at the Government Accountability Series on Monday, July 28, 2025, Dr. Ayine said the proposed change will do away with the Ghana School of Law and a National Bar Exam will be introduced.
He noted that a bill to effect the changes has been drafted and yet to be submitted to Cabinet.
“The promise is that we are going to reform legal education in such a way that access will be expanded. Currently, we have thousands of LLB holders who cannot become lawyers because they cannot go to the Ghana School of Law.
“The Bill that I have drafted which will be submitted to Cabinet next month is to the effect that we are going to literally abolish the Ghana School of Law system,” he stated.
The reforms aim to decentralise professional legal training and expand access to the bar for all qualified LLB graduates.
Under the new model, students who obtain LLB degrees from various accredited universities will undertake a one-year Bar Practice Programme at their respective institutions.
Upon completion, they will sit for a standardised National Bar Exam to qualify for legal practice.
“Basically, what we are going to do is that you will have three years of legal education to obtain your degree that is the LLB.
“After obtaining the LLB degree, you now do what we call the clinical programme or the Bar practice course in the University where you obtained your LLB for another academic year.
“Then you write what we term the National Bar Exam so everybody who has the LLB and has taken the Bar practice course in their university, will be entitled to write the National Bar Exam,” he explained.
He also revealed that the final draft of the legal education bill had been submitted to his deputy, Dr. Justice Srem-Sai, for review on Sunday, July 27, ahead of the formal announcement.
