The Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr. Dominic Ayine, has unveiled major reforms to Ghana’s legal education system, announcing that the current Ghana School of Law admission process will be replaced with a new national bar examination.
Speaking during the Government Accountability Series in Accra on Monday, July 28, 2025, Dr. Ayine disclosed that the reforms form part of a new legal education bill, which is expected to be presented to Cabinet in August.
The new system aims to decentralise professional legal training and widen access to the bar for all qualified LLB graduates. Under the proposed model, LLB holders from accredited institutions will complete a one-year Bar Practice Programme at their respective universities. Upon successful completion, they will sit for a standardised national bar exam to qualify for legal practice.
This development follows years of criticism against the current centralised admission structure, which many say has denied thousands of eligible graduates entry into the legal profession.
Dr. Ayine explained that the reforms are designed to transition from an “exclusionary system” to one that promotes inclusion and equal opportunity.
He further revealed that the final draft of the legal education bill was submitted to his deputy, Dr. Justice Srem-Sai, for review on Sunday, July 27, ahead of the official announcement.
