Parliament has passed the Legal Education Bill, 2025, paving the way for significant reforms in the country’s legal education system.
The Bill establishes a Council for Legal Education and Training, which will be responsible for regulating legal education and setting curriculum standards across institutions.
A key provision of the legislation is the shift of the professional legal education and training programme from the Ghana School of Law to accredited universities.
Under the new framework, a Law Practice Training Course will be introduced and offered by approved universities to prepare eligible candidates for a National Bar Examination.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament, the Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga noted that the passage of the Bill fulfills the National Democratic Congress (NDC)’s commitment to promoting equity, fairness, and improved access to legal education in Ghana.
“As has been typical of the NDC, promises made are delivered. We promised law students that if they vote for us, we will carry out reforms that will ensure equity, fairness and access to legal education,” he said
However, Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin took a swipe at the NDC government, accusing it of failing to deliver on some of its key campaign promises.
He argued that while reforming legal education is important, the government must also demonstrate its commitment to other critical pledges made to Ghanaians.
The Law Students’ Network (LSN) is on record to have cautioned against the risk of sacrificing quality for access, calling for greater stakeholder consultation and the need to provide clarity on timelines, funding, and monitoring, among other issues, in the government’s quest to expand access to legal education in Ghana.
According to the LSN, the government’s plans to expand access to professional legal education have sparked a debate over what it perceives as broken in the current system and seeks to address through its stated approach.
In a statement, the LSN noted that while the calls for expansion seem to be rooted in expediency, lingering concerns about timelines, funding, oversight risks, among others, highlight the need for effective scrutiny of the Bill, so as not to sacrifice quality on the altar of political expediency.
The LSN is therefore calling for broader stakeholder consultations and greater clarity on the proposed Bill, ensuring that the views of all relevant stakeholders are taken into account before the law is passed.
On that score, LSN is urging the government to reconsider its plans to pass the Bill under a certificate of urgency without adequate scrutiny by stakeholders.
The LSN is an organization for law students of Ghana interested in policy development, research, and community development.
The Network’s aims and objectives include providing a platform for law students to undertake research and engage in discussions on legal, policy, and emerging issues related to social, political, and economic sectors in Ghana.
Foster a community of learning and intellectual exchange among law students interested in policy and socio-economic development; promote awareness and understanding of legal and policy matters within the broader community.
Contribute to national development through research, policy advice, and advocacy; demand accountability from the national government, student leadership, and management of the legal education across the country, and promote excellence in academic work and students’ leadership.
