Call to the Bar now more of an assembly line – Ex-CJ Sophia Akuffo

Former Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo has stated that the legal profession should not be conducted like an assembly line.

Speaking on Starr Chat with Bola Ray Thursday, the former Chief Justice disclosed that now people are entering the legal profession for personal gains and not for the love of it.

“I still stand by that it is not a question of numbers. It is a question of quality and the content, scope and magnitude and the process of becoming a lawyer, I think that it is increasingly becoming an assembly line.

“How many of them are lawyers because they want to help rather than it is a stepping stone to some big thing? To a political life to being rich. That is my impression. My concern is that the caliber of the larger number of lawyers is what is going to dictate the caliber of the greater number of judges in the future. Because you are a member of the BAR before you become a judge,” madam Akuffo stated.

According to her, it is becoming very easy for anyone to become a lawyer in the country.

“The process we went through was hard, harsh, and militaristic. Maybe we knew that every person who was teaching us was setting very high standards so if he they tell you it’s out of ten. You know that to get to seven you have almost broke the teeth and you work accordingly.

She further stated that during her days in the law school they had lecturers who were committed to what they were doing.

“They were not lecturing in six different universities and then being private practitioners at the same time. They were lecturing us and gave us their all as far as I am concerned.”