A legal battle is brewing over the operations of the newly announced Ghana Law Society (GLS) after a private citizen, Yaw Aning Boadu, filed an application at the High Court seeking to suspend its activities with immediate effect.
The application follows a recent public declaration by the GLS that it had received official accreditation from the General Legal Council (GLC), a move the Society says would end the long-standing dominance of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) in professional legal practice.
In a Motion on Notice for an Interlocutory Injunction filed on January 23, 2026, at the High Court (General Jurisdiction), Mr Boadu is asking the court to restrain the GLS from presenting itself as a duly registered professional body or issuing any form of practising, chamber or pupillage licences.
At the heart of the dispute is an announcement made by the GLS on January 22, 2026, which suggested that the GLC, chaired by Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, had given the Society authority to facilitate the issuance of licences traditionally handled by the GBA and the GLC.
But in an affidavit supporting the injunction, the plaintiff argues that the claims by the GLS are unlawful and beyond the powers granted to the organisation.
The suit lists the Ghana Law Society, the Office of the Registrar of Companies (ORC), and the General Legal Council as defendants.
According to Mr Boadu, allowing the GLS to proceed unchecked would create uncertainty within the legal profession and weaken regulatory control in the administration of justice.
He maintains that financial compensation would not be enough to cure the harm likely to arise from what he describes as illegal conduct.
“Damages will not be an adequate remedy for the harm likely to be occasioned by the continued unlawful conduct, since the injury is regulatory and institutional and affects the integrity of the legal profession,” portions of the affidavit state.
The legal challenge is anchored on three main arguments. First, the plaintiff says the GLS has not satisfied statutory requirements under NRCD 143, the Professional Bodies Registration Act, which demands that a body represent at least 75 per cent of trained professionals before it can operate as a sole representative organisation.
Mr. Boadi argues that the Society is acting without legal authority by taking on licensing functions it has not been mandated to perform.
The injunction is therefore intended to preserve the status quo and prevent what the plaintiff calls the continuation of an illegality until the court finally determines the legitimacy of the GLS’s registration and powers.
The emergence of the Ghana Law Society had earlier generated excitement among critics of the Ghana Bar Association, who believe the constitutional reference to the GBA should allow room for more inclusive professional bodies rather than a single dominant association.
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