Former president of the Ghana Bar Association, Sam Okudzeto, has criticised the passage of the Legal Education Bill, 2025, saying the legal profession was sidelined in a major reform that directly affects it.

Parliament passed the Bill last week, marking a major shift in Ghana’s legal education system.

The legislation ends the Ghana School of Law's monopoly and allows accredited universities to offer professional legal training.

It also establishes a Council for Legal Education and Training to regulate the system and oversee a new national bar examination framework.

But speaking on Joy News' PM Express, Okudzeto said the process excluded the very body that represents legal practitioners across the country.

“I had one complaint in the first place when this bill was proposed, the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) was not involved at all, which I thought was rather strange,” he said.

He argued that the nature of the reforms required direct input from the Bar.

“One would have thought that this matter should have been referred to the GBA for their input, because they are the members of the profession,” he added.

Okudzeto stressed that the GBA is not limited to a few urban centres but represents lawyers nationwide.

“And it has a council, which is composed of regional presidents and a secretary from each of the regions who are all members of the council. And therefore you can see that it’s a body that is not Accra or Kumasi matter, it’s nationwide,” he said.

He expressed concern that, despite attempts to engage Parliament, the Association was not given the opportunity.

“And yet nothing was referred to us. I think an application was made to Parliament for us to have an interview with the council, and it was never fulfilled,” he noted.

According to him, the Association only became aware of the development after the law had already been passed.

“We now heard that the law had been passed, so that’s a serious matter,” he stated.

Sam Okudzeto maintained that Parliament has a duty to consult professional bodies when legislating on matters that affect them.

“More so, my view is that when we are talking about a profession, it means that anytime parliament is confronted with an issue relating to a profession, Parliament should get the professional body to be involved,” he said.