A Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Kweku T. Ackaah-Boafo, has cautioned that the country’s new legal education framework may not necessarily eliminate exclusion, but could instead shift it from the point of entry to the point of exit.
He explained that the transition from a single entry system to multiple training providers raised concerns about whether opportunities were genuinely being expanded or whether exclusion was simply being multiplied across different stages.
Justice Ackaah-Boafo made the remarks at the 13th Jurists’ Conference organised by the Faculty of Law of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) last Friday.
The conference was held on the theme, “Access versus standards: The future of legal education in Ghana.”
He stated that any meaningful expansion of access must include the competence to address the legal realities faced by most Ghanaians, noting that customary law continued to play a central role in matters such as land ownership, family relations, inheritance and dispute resolution.
Justice Ackaah-Boafo urged stakeholders not to frame the reforms as a simple trade-off between access and standards.
He stressed that standards were not barriers to justice, but rather essential safeguards that ensured public trust in lawyers who handled issues relating to liberty, property and livelihoods.
According to him, access to professional legal training touched on fairness, equality and the broader administration of justice, while standards remained critical to preserving the integrity of the legal profession.
He observed that the previous system created a form of injustice, where graduates who met university requirements were repeatedly denied entry through an examination that often appeared to ration limited spaces rather than assess readiness.
He noted that this situation led many unsuccessful candidates to seek legal training abroad in countries such as The Gambia, Nigeria, Rwanda, the United Kingdom and India, resulting in a loss of resources for Ghana.
Justice Ackaah-Boafo explained that the current reforms aligned with a broader common law model, where multiple institutions provided training while quality assurance was maintained through a unified exit examination.
However, he cautioned that decentralisation could lead to the emergence of “many smaller gates”.
He also warned against the assumption that introducing practical subjects earlier at the undergraduate level would automatically improve competence, explaining that areas such as the interpretation of deeds and statutes required hands-on experience in drafting and dispute-based learning.
Justice Ackaah-Boafo advocated a transparent, rigorous and well-calibrated National Bar Examination, stressing that it would bear the full responsibility for quality assurance under the new system.
He further called for the Council responsible for legal education and training to be given the capacity and independence to effectively regulate training providers nationwide.
In a related address, a Justice of the High Court, Justice John-Mark Nuku Alifo, urged newly accredited law faculties to move beyond traditional lecture methods and prioritise practical, hands-on training.
He said standards should not only be tested through written examinations but also in real-life scenarios where students engaged clients, drafted contracts, negotiated solutions and participated in simulated court proceedings.
Justice Alifo stated that the passage of Act 1170 should not be seen as a threat to the legal profession, but rather as an opportunity for reform.
He therefore called on the General Legal Council, the Council for Legal Education and Training, and university deans to manage the transition with courage, foresight and vigilance.
FROM DAVID O. YARBOI-TETTEH, CAPE COAST