Mahama Signs Legal Education Reform Bill into Law, Ending Ghana School of Law’s 66-Year Monopoly

The Legal Education Reform Bill (2025), signed by President John Dramani Mahama, became law and marked the end of the 66-year monopoly of the Ghana School of Law on the training of lawyers in Ghana. The new law will allow accredited universities to provide professional law programmes, a long overdue reform many legal educators and campaigners have lobbied for for years.

The previous model was frequently slammed for putting unnecessary barriers in front of anyone seeking to work in law. President Mahama stated that the law would balance the two essential priorities, saying the policy aims to “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.” Many would-be lawyers were hoping reform would come, he added. Since its founding in 1958, the only law institution which has been authorized to administer the professional law course necessary to enter the Ghana Bar has been the Ghana School of Law.

For decades critics have argued that this monopoly caused such severe bottlenecks that hundreds of suitable law graduates were barred from entering annually. Only educational institutions that meet the accreditation criteria specified by the relevant regulatory bodies and approved under the new law shall be permitted to offer their professional legal training programmes, a boon to the legal education sector, it has been announced.

Editor:

Obiri-Yeboah