‘Makola’ law school to be abolished; new national bar exams to replace it - Attorney-General
The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine, has announced plans to abolish the current centralised admissions system of the Ghana School of Law located at “Makola” in Accra.
In place of that, he says, all universities running the LLB programme will go ahead and run an additional one-year practical programme for their students as part of the qualification for the professional law qualification.
After that process, students will be made to write a new national bar examination to qualify to be called to the bar for professional practice.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Monday, [July 28, 2025], Dr Ayine said a new legal education bill aimed at overhauling professional legal training in Ghana has been finalised and is expected to be submitted to Cabinet in August.
Under the proposed changes, students with an LLB from accredited universities will undergo a one-year Bar Practice Programme at the same university where the LLB programme was undertaken and after that, write a standardised national bar examination.
This move, he said, would eliminate the bottlenecks that have restricted access to legal practice through the Ghana School of Law for decades.
“The bill will abolish the Ghana School of Law system,” Dr Ayine said. “Universities will be allowed to provide practical legal education internally, and successful students will write a national bar exam, just like what is done by the Institute of Chartered Accountants.”
The announcement follows years of public frustration over the limited intake at the Ghana School of Law, which has left thousands of LLB graduates without a pathway to professional practice despite having qualifying degrees from public and private institutions.
Dr Ayine explained that the new model aims to make the system more inclusive without lowering standards.
“We are shifting from exclusion to inclusion. Our aim is to ensure that all qualified LLB holders have a clear and merit-based path to becoming lawyers,” he said.
He revealed that the final draft of the bill was sent to his deputy, Dr. Justice Srem-Sai for review on Sunday, July 27, ahead of the public announcement.
Responding to questions about how the new model would affect private universities, Dr Ayine stated that while access to legal training would be expanded, the government would not fund professional legal education in private institutions.
“Government funding for private universities is a privilege, not a right,” he said. “We are already stretched supporting public institutions.”
