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President John Dramani Mahama has officially signed the Legal Education Reform Bill, 2025 into law, abolishing the controversial entrance examinations for professional legal education in Ghana.
The landmark reform also ends the long-standing monopoly held by the Ghana School of Law over professional legal training, opening the door for accredited universities to offer professional law programmes across the country.
The development marks one of the biggest changes in Ghana’s legal education system in decades and is expected to significantly increase access to legal training for thousands of law graduates.
For years, the entrance examination into the Ghana School of Law had been heavily criticised by students, lecturers and legal professionals, many of whom argued that the system unfairly restricted access to the legal profession despite the increasing number of qualified LLB graduates from universities nationwide.
Speaking on JoyNews’ The Pulse on Monday, May 11, Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor confirmed that the new law takes immediate effect.
“The entrance exams, as we know, no longer exist effective immediately,” he stated.
According to him, all accredited law faculties and institutions will now operate under a unified framework supervised by the newly established Council for Legal Education and Training.
The new regulatory body will oversee admissions, accreditation and professional standards for legal education across Ghana.
Under the previous system, the Ghana School of Law served as the sole institution responsible for professional legal training since 1959. Although thousands of students graduated annually with Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degrees from both public and private universities, only a limited number gained admission into the professional programme after sitting for the entrance examination.
Over the years, the exams became a major national debate due to low pass rates and repeated allegations of unfairness and limited access.
Critics argued that the arrangement created unnecessary barriers for aspiring lawyers and failed to reflect the growing demand for legal professionals in the country.
With the passage of the Legal Education Reform Bill, accredited universities will now be allowed to run professional legal education programmes once approved by the Council for Legal Education and Training.
The reforms are expected to decentralise legal education and make professional training more accessible to students across different regions of the country.
President Mahama, while assenting to the bill, explained that the objective of the reforms is to balance wider access to legal education with the maintenance of high professional standards.
According to him, Ghana’s legal sector must evolve to meet modern educational demands while preserving the quality and integrity of the profession.
The reforms have already generated excitement among law graduates and students who have long advocated changes to the system.
Many believe the new law will reduce the bottlenecks associated with professional legal training and create more opportunities for qualified students to pursue careers in law.
The decision is also expected to reshape the future of legal education in Ghana by encouraging competition, improving infrastructure and expanding the country’s legal training capacity.
