Ghana’s New Legal Education Bill: Law Students Caution Against Sacrificing Quality For Access

The Law Students’ Network (LSN) of Ghana has cautioned against the risk of sacrificing quality for access, calling for greater stakeholder consultation and the need to provide clarity on timelines, funding, monitoring, among other issues, in the government’s quest to expand access to legal education in Ghana.

According to the LSN, the government’s plans to expand access to professional legal education have resulted in a debate as to what the government really deems to be broken within the current system and seeks to fix with its avowed stance.

In a statement, the LSN noted that while the calls for expansion seem to be rooted in expediency, lingering concerns about timelines, funding, oversight risks, among others, highlight the need for effective scrutiny of the Bill, so as not to sacrifice quality on the altar of political expediency.

The LSN is therefore calling for broader stakeholder consultations and clarity on the proposed Bill, ensuring that the views of all relevant stakeholders are brought on board before the law is passed. On that score, LSN is urging government to reconsider its plans to have the Bill passed under a certificate of urgency without adequate scrutiny from stakeholders.