Engagement of non-qualified Lawyers is illegal

Accra, Dec. 8, GNA - The General Legal Council said on Friday it was illegal for individuals from other countries, who had neither been enrolled nor called to the Bar in Ghana, to render legal services in the country.

A statement issued by the General Legal Council in Accra said the only statutory body mandated by the Legal Profession Act of 1960 Act (32) as amended to enrol and admit lawyers to practice in Ghana is the General Legal Council.

The release said it was an offence for a person to hold himself or herself out as a lawyer in Ghana to render legal services for a reward when that person had not gone through the requisite training, passed the prescribed examinations, or enrolled and called to the Bar in Ghana. "Section 9 (2) of the Legal Profession Act of 1960 (Act 32) states in part that if a person who has not been enrolled wilfully pretends to be, or takes, or uses any name or title, or description implying that he or she is qualified to act as a lawyer, or barrister or solicitor, that person shall be liable for prosecution."

The General Legal Council, therefore, cautioned that any institution in the country that engaged the service of a lawyer should ascertain whether the General Legal Council had enrolled such a person as a lawyer and that his or her name appeared on the Register of Lawyers.