Increasing levels of misconducts by some lawyers is a cause to worry - Chief Justice

Ghana's Chief Justice, Honorable Justice Sophia Akuffo has expressed concerned about the increasing cases of misconduct brought against lawyers at the disciplinary committee of the General Legal Council.

The Chief Justice addressing the Bench, Bar and Faculty Conference at the Labadi Beach Hotel on the theme “The Changing Landscape in the Law – the Judge, the Lawyer and the Academic”, said the growing misconduct of some lawyers in the country is a cause to worry as this is giving the profession a bad image.

She said, “those of us who have been long on the General Legal Council, those of us who have spent too long on the disciplinary committee, we have course to worry because the kind of misconducts which are reported are such that there is no way anybody envisaged these categories of misconduct when the legal profession act was being enacted in 1960”.

This she attributed to the number of students being admitted into various law faculties at the Universities. She further stated that as long as she supervises legal education in Ghana and the Judicial System, she will not allow the mass production of lawyers in the country.

According to her, the mass production of lawyers poses a great danger to the people of the country who would require the services of a good lawyer in their lifetime.

“Those of you lawyers and those of you lecturers who are busy advocating free scale, mass admissions, into the professional law course, and mass production of lawyers, be careful what you wish for”. She pointed out that “so long as I have anything to do with it, it won’t happen”. “Just like you can’t mass produce doctors and surgeons, Ghanaians must not have mass-produced lawyers imposed on them,” she added.

Attorney General, Gloria Akuffo who was also present at the event said it is important that legal education in Ghana is given the attention it deserves.

“It is very important that we take a hard look at our legal education system in Ghana. The problems of our school of law and the emerging numbers of universities that offer degrees in law have become a matter of notoriety. Not only do we need a new structure, but we need to restructure the means of instruction”

Mr. Anthony Forson, President of the Ghana Bar Association in a brief remark pointed out that the Bench, Bar, and Faculty Conference which is primarily to foster healthy interactions between the three establishments have suffered some setbacks in recent years.

He, however, assured the attendees that going forward, the Chief Justice has agreed to make it a calendar item that will be fitted just after Easter every year.

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