Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine, has announced sweeping reforms to Ghana’s legal education system, proposing the abolition of the current Ghana School of Law admissions framework in favour of a decentralised national bar examination.

Speaking at the Government Accountability Series in Accra on Monday, 28th July 2025, Dr Ayine revealed that a new legal education bill capturing the proposed changes will be submitted to Cabinet in August.

The initiative aims to expand access to professional legal training and ensure that all qualifying LLB graduates have an equitable and standardised path to legal practice.

Under the proposed system, accredited universities offering LLB programmes will run a one-year Bar Practice Programme internally. Upon completion, graduates will write a standardised national bar examination to qualify for legal practice.

“The bill will abolish the Ghana School of Law system,” Dr Ayine stated. “Universities will now deliver practical legal training in-house, and successful students will sit a national bar exam, similar to the model used by the Institute of Chartered Accountants.”

The proposed reforms follow persistent calls from stakeholders to decentralise legal education.

Many LLB graduates from both public and private universities have long struggled to gain admission into the Ghana School of Law, despite holding qualifying degrees.

Dr Ayine stressed that this reform signals a fundamental policy shift.

“We are moving from a system of exclusion to one of inclusion,” he said. “Our goal is to establish a fair, merit-based pathway that enables all qualified graduates to enter the profession.”

He further disclosed that the final draft of the bill had already been submitted to his deputy, Dr Justice Srem-Sai, for review on Sunday, 27th July, ahead of its formal presentation to Cabinet.