Legal Profession Regulations 'constriction’ on legal education – Kofi Bentil

Vice president of policy think-tank, IMANI Ghana, Kofi Bentil has described the draft Legal Profession Regulations currently before Parliament for scrutiny as a ‘constriction’ on legal education.

The proposed LI in question, among other things, states that the General Legal Council will conduct an entrance exam for the admission of students to the school, and conduct interviews for all applicants who pass the Ghana School of Law Entrance Examination.

According to him, the decision by the Ghana Legal Council (GLC) to have Parliament review the regulation already declared ‘unconstitutional’ by the Supreme Court for its endorsement will have many negative ramifications.

“What is also important is that when the matter went to the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court gave instructions to the General Legal Council to effectively stop what they are doing which was declared unconstitutional and I don’t know by what interpretation the General Legal Council concludes that. We are of the view that the actions taken by the Legal Council to constrict the parameters for legal education instead of expanding them has many negative ramifications on everything.”

Kofi Bentil emphatically mentioned at a press briefing on Monday January 30, 2018 that numbers should not be the basis for restriction by the Council.

He explained that legal practitioners, regardless of how many are churned out of the School of Law at any point in time, will pose no problem for fresh graduates in the system, it will in no way affect fresh graduates because the profession doesn’t require specific parameters for operation.

“Legal education particularly, is one of those professions which after the person goes through he may not come and ask anybody for employment. A lawyer can be a lawyer by himself even running it out of the bedroom.”

The Legal Practitioner suggested the Council should focus on expanding the facility for more enrolment rather than narrowing access to legal education particularly for the fact that many problems in every country are solved through legal processes.

“So it happens to be one of those things which have a way of solving many problems which we are dealing with in this country right now. And there can never be an over production of Lawyers. We need lawyers in every place, in every aspect of society. So I don’t know why we will make choices that will effectively constrict legal education.”

He described the subject as one of national concern expressing hope that the petition before parliament from the Association of Law Students will be considered favorably leaving GLC with not much of an option than to go back to the initial instructions given by the Supreme Court to halt examinations and interviews for admission of law students. This according to him will ensure that persons who qualify for the law school are given a fair chance to pursue their course without any limitations by virtue of the examination.

Background

Presidents of the Association of Law Students Tuesday January 30 forwarded a petition to Parliament for the annulment of the Legal Profession (Proffessional and Post-Call Law Course) Regulations, 2017 currently before Parliament’s Subsidiary Legislation Committee. The regulation which was taken to Parliament by the Ghana Legal Council seeks to get Parliament’s endorsement on the decision to take students who wish to apply for the law school through an interview session after an entrance exam.

In the petition addressed to Speaker of Parliament, Mike Aaron Oquaye, the Association raised grave issues with the Regulation including some breaches of sections of the 1992 Constitution.

The General Legal Council (GLC) has been accused of deliberately attempting to frustrate potential law students with the Regulation.

The issue was a subject of a court case in 2015 but the Supreme Court held the requirement was “unconstitutional.”

The ruling notwithstanding, GLC has taken the Regulation to Parliament to have it legalized, despite the apex court's ruling.

But the Association of Law Students’ Presidents has said the Regulation has issues, threatening it could go to court again if it is passed.