Parliament has passed the Legal Education Bill, 2025, marking a major shift in how professional legal training will be delivered across the country.
The newly passed law introduces a restructured system that removes the long-standing exclusivity of the Ghana School of Law as the sole provider of professional legal education. Instead, accredited universities will now be permitted to offer practical legal training to qualified law graduates.
At the heart of the reform is the establishment of a Council for Legal Education and Training, a regulatory body tasked with overseeing standards, accreditation, and curriculum development within the legal education sector.
Under the new arrangement, students will undertake a Law Practice Training Course at approved institutions before sitting for a National Bar Examination, which will serve as the final qualifying stage for entry into the legal profession.
Speaking during parliamentary proceedings, Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga described the passage of the bill as a fulfillment of a key campaign promise by the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC).
“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, the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, while acknowledging the collaborative effort behind the legislation, criticised the government for what he described as delays in delivering other key promises.
“All of us have participated. This is not a bill that is identified with a particular party. I concede that indeed they made it a campaign promise. Mr Speaker, however, they equally promised that they were going to set up a bank for women. We are done with year one, year two, we have not seen the Women Bank,” he stated.
The passage of the Legal Education Bill is widely seen as a landmark reform aimed at expanding access to legal training, reducing bottlenecks, and aligning Ghana’s legal education system with global best practices.
