The Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Dominic Ayine, says government will immediately begin implementing Ghana’s new legal education reforms following President John Dramani Mahama’s assent to the Legal Education Bill, 2026.
Speaking at a post-signing press conference on Tuesday, Dr. Ayine announced that the first major step under the reforms would be the dissolution of the General Legal Council and the creation of a new Council for Legal Education and Training to oversee legal education in the country.
“Implementation will begin without delay,” Dr. Ayine said after confirming that President Mahama had signed the bill into law.
According to him, the newly established council will immediately take over the responsibility of regulating and accrediting institutions that intend to run the Law Practice Course for LLB graduates seeking qualification to the Bar.
“This is a much-anticipated reform law that is supposed to radically reform legal education to create equality of opportunity for persons aspiring to be lawyers in this country,” he stated.
The reforms are expected to significantly reshape Ghana’s legal education system, which for years has faced criticism over limited access to professional legal training.
Under the previous arrangement, the General Legal Council supervised professional legal education mainly through the Ghana School of Law, where limited admission spaces left hundreds of qualified LLB graduates unable to continue their legal training each year.
The new law seeks to widen access by allowing multiple accredited institutions to offer the Law Practice Course under the supervision of the new council.
Dr. Ayine disclosed that both the establishment of the council and the accreditation of institutions are expected to be completed before the end of the year.
He further revealed that government intends to support the implementation of the reforms financially through the 2027 national budget to be presented to Parliament later this year by Cassiel Ato Forson, the Finance Minister.
For years, reforms in legal education have remained a major subject of national debate, with students, civil society groups, and sections of the legal fraternity calling for a more accessible and transparent system.
Observers believe the success of the new framework will largely depend on how quickly the new council is established and how effectively it regulates institutions seeking accreditation.
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