The Association of Law Students has petitioned President Nana Akufo-Addo to effect the removal of the controversial Legal Profession Regulations 2017 from Parliament.
The General Legal Council in December 2017 laid the Regulations before Parliament, in response to a Supreme Court order for a clear admission procedure into the Ghana School of Law, and how one can be called to the Ghana Bar.
The proposed LI in question, among other things, states that the General Legal Council will conduct an entrance exam for the admission of students to the school, and conduct interviews for all applicants who pass the Ghana School of Law Entrance Examination. The LI is expected to become Law in February 2018.
However, the law students maintain that if the document is passed in its current form, it will restrict many from accessing legal education in Ghana.
Speaking on an Accra based radio Station Citi FM, the President of the Association, Noah Tetteh, said, “we are asking for students to be allowed to go to the law school, and directly after that, there should be an examination that they will take and if they pass that exam, then those who make it will be called to the Bar as lawyers. We are asking for the intervention of the President. Take away the exams. Take away the interview and allow students to go straight to the law school to be trained as lawyers.â€
He emphasized that the Legal Council should be more fixated on improving the quality of legal education and not restricting access.
“The Act which regulates Legal education has been there since the inception of legal education in Ghana. It is not about restricting people’s access to the law school that will churn out quality lawyers in Ghana. It’s about allowing people to go to the law school to improve facilities to improve their education. That is the reason why we petitioned the President.â€
Meanwhile, a group calling itself the Concerned Law Students had in 2017 submitted a petition to Parliament against the new LI, describing it as a deliberate attempt by the GLC to frustrate them, something they considered a violation of their rights.
Ken Addor Donkor, the leader of the group, said the proposed LI was an attempt to kill the dreams of law students.
The Ghana Law School has been criticized for being overly rigid considering that it serves 12 schools providing LLB degrees.
The current training regime limits the intake into the Ghana Law School to under 500 of the about-2000 LLB graduates annually.
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primenewsghana.com/Ghana News