General Legal Council to withdraw recognition of some institutions offering LLB courses

The Chief Justice, Kwasi Anin-Yeboah says the General Legal Council will soon withdraw the recognition of some institutions offering LLB programmes to sanctify the legal profession.

This is because the institutions lack lecturers, lecture rooms, and libraries.

The Chief Justice was speaking at the enrolment of 846 newly qualified lawyers on Friday at the Accra International Conference Centre.

This follows their success in the professional law course at the Ghana School of Law.

This year’s enrollment saw the largest number for those who did the post law course and the professional law course for two years at the Ghana School of Law.

The post law course is designed for Ghanaians or non-Ghanaians who have qualified in Common Law countries outside Ghana, which operates legal systems analogous to Ghana.

The Chief Justice said there was nothing punitive about the action and that it was to tackle any professional mediocrity.

He said a tour through some of those institutions produced disturbing reports.

 The Chief Justice congratulated the new lawyers and said the legal profession controlled one of the three arms of government and urged them to be proud to be enrolled as lawyers.

He said there were so many misconceptions about the profession and urged them to work hard to clear them.

The Chief Justice, who is the Chairman of the General Legal Council, told the new lawyers that it would be detrimental for them to see the law profession as a gold mine with the aim of making money.

He said the law profession was demanding and same required hard work and professional excellence.

He, therefore, urged them to avoid greed and contribute to the constitutional growth and development of the nation.

“You cannot measure success in monetary and material terms only and allow the desire for money and power, position and fame to blind you and throw overboard the core values and ethics of the profession,” he added.

“Rather you must demonstrate high level of commitment, excellence, and hard work as this would earn you respect, good financial rewards and trust from the people you serve”, the Chief Justice said.

He urged them to continue to learn the rules of the court and work hard.

“Do pro bono cases, especially cases with institutions such as the Legal Aid.”

At this year’s enrolment, Bolson Sabina Saba, took the John Mensah Sarbah Memorial prize and the best all round student in the Professional Law Examination.

For the Post law Course, Brown Araba Bena Akyenba, was adjudged the best performing Student.

Ten others were awarded for scoring the highest marks in the various subjects.

Source: Ghana News