Alex Gyamfi, a private legal practitioner, has advised authorities at the Ghana School of Law to adopt the mode of legal education being practiced in the United Kingdom to contain the number of students who pass the law school examinations.
According to him, in the UK, the Inns of Court [group of four institutions of considerable antiquity that have historically been responsible for legal education] are allowed to train the incoming lawyers making it easier for them to contain the number of students at their Law School.
His comments come after some 2,000 LLB students who sat for the 2021 entrance exams failed.
“I think what we are going through is because of the numbers. The increasing recognition of the legal counsel and the demands of the society. I am of the view that we practice what is done in the UK. In the UK, it is the Inns that train the lawyers,” Gyamfi told Asaase News.
On his part, Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo, another legal practitioner said on The Forum – Asaase Radio’s news and current affair weekend programme – that Ghana’s legal education system and administration needs a thorough re-evaluation to operate smoothly.
“For the fact that we have had such an embarrassing situation that results are declared and entry requirements are changed after is a clear indication that the system we have has outlived its usefulness, we must reform it and the GLC [General Legal Council] must be removed away from legal education,” Addo said.
In September, the General Legal Council (GLC) in a press release indicated that 790 candidates out of the total of 2,824 students who sat for the 2021 entrance exams had passed.
Despite calls for a review of and the admission of some 499 students, the GLC insisted that the results were credible.
The poor pass rate has in the past sparked calls for a reform of legal education in Ghana. Critics have said the GLC deliberately restricts people from gaining access to legal education.
Admission to the Ghana School of Law for professional legal education requires that successful candidates obtain a minimum rank of 50%.
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