President John Dramani Mahama has signed the Legal Education Reform Bill, 2025 into law, marking a major shift in Ghana’s legal education system and bringing an end to the Ghana School of Law’s 66-year monopoly over professional legal training.
The new legislation is expected to widen access to professional legal education by allowing accredited universities and institutions to offer professional law programmes, a mandate that had for decades been reserved exclusively for the Ghana School of Law.
The reform has been welcomed by many aspiring lawyers and legal education advocates who have long criticised the restrictive nature of the country’s professional legal training system.
For years, concerns had been raised over the limited number of students admitted into the Ghana School of Law annually, despite thousands graduating with LLB degrees from universities across the country. Many qualified graduates were unable to continue their legal education due to limited spaces and the highly competitive entrance examination process.
Speaking after assenting to the bill on Monday, May 11, President Mahama said the legislation was aimed at both maintaining standards and creating more opportunities within the legal education sector.
“Regulate legal education and ensure the highest standards in terms of legal education, but also to open up a space for more opportunities for legal education in Ghana,” he stated.
“This particular act has been one that many aspiring lawyers have been looking up to.”
Since its establishment in 1958, the Ghana School of Law had remained the sole institution authorised to run the Professional Law Course required for admission to the Ghana Bar.
Over the years, the arrangement became a subject of national debate, with students, civil society organisations and some legal practitioners calling for reforms to make professional legal education more accessible.
The passage and signing of the Legal Education Reform Bill, 2025 is therefore being viewed as a significant breakthrough in addressing long-standing barriers within the legal education system.
Under the new law, universities and institutions that meet accreditation requirements set by the relevant regulatory bodies will now be eligible to offer professional legal training programmes, a move expected to increase capacity and provide more opportunities for law graduates across the country.
