President John Dramani Mahama signed the Legal Education Reform Bill 2025 into law on 11 May 2026, ending the Ghana School of Law’s six-decade monopoly over professional legal training. The new Act permits accredited universities and institutions to offer professional law courses, dramatically expanding access for aspiring lawyers.
What The Law Changes
- Monopoly ended: Ghana School of Law no longer the sole provider of professional legal training
- Authorised: Accredited universities + institutions can now offer professional law courses
- Duration of prior monopoly: Over 60 years
- Access: Designed to expand professional-law pathways across the country
Mahama’s Framing
- Reform aims at “improving legal education while creating more opportunities for aspiring lawyers”
- Position: end the historical bottleneck that has restricted bar entry
- Government framing this as part of a broader access-to-justice agenda
The Context
- For decades, thousands of LLB graduates have failed to advance due to capped Ghana School of Law admissions
- Annual bar-entry exam fail rates have repeatedly drawn public scrutiny
- Civil-society and legal-education advocates have campaigned for liberalisation for years
- Bill signed under Mahama’s broader 2026 reform agenda
Why It Matters
- Long-blocked LLB graduates now have multiple professional pathways
- Universities can scale legal education capacity to meet demand
- Sets a precedent for further professional-training liberalisation
- Expected to grow Ghana’s lawyer pool over the medium term
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