Adhere to ethics of profession - Dean tells lawyers
The Acting Dean of the Faculty of Law of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Dr Chris Adomako Kwakye, has advised legal practitioners to conduct themselves in such a way as not to bring the profession into disrepute.
He said their action did not only affect themselves but the legal profession as a whole and as such, it behoved them to strictly adhere to the professional code of the legal practice to bring honour to the revered noble profession.
He added that lawyers should conduct businesses in line with the profession’s ethics, which included compassion, honesty, love, selflessness and justice.
“When one decides to become a lawyer, one should think deeply about the lives they want to lead and their values,” he said.
Dr Kwakye gave the advice during the induction ceremony of the 2024-2025 academic year batch of the Kumasi campus of the Ghana School of Law.
Two hundred and twenty-two students have been admitted to the school for their professional law course.
The KNUST acting Dean of the Faculty of Law stated that as lawyers, they should aspire to live above reproach and maintain the dignity of the profession as the consequences of unprofessionalism could be dire.
He mentioned the setting up of a disciplinary committee to investigate, the withdrawal of one’s licence by the licensing authority and in the worst case, be suspended for a period of time, as some of the punitive measures for those who breached the ethical rules.
On the part of the clients, Dr Kwakye said it could breed mistrust and tarnish the image of the profession as a whole with the perception that ‘all lawyers are the same’.
Standards
The Director of the Ghana School of Law, Barima Yaw Kodie Oppong, also reiterated the call on the students to uphold the high standard of the profession and to increase their level of commitment to the ethics and policies of the school.
He observed that though the internships might appear tedious and time-consuming, it was for their own good and asked them to take internships seriously.
“I have seen a lot of positive impacts the internships are having on students, it adds more experience to the classroom opportunities, and it is never a waste of time,” he said.