Don’t lower standards for Law School admissions – Baffoe-Bonnie to GLC

A Supreme Court Judge, Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie has cautioned the General Legal Council against lowering the standards for admission into the Ghana School of Law.

According to the Supreme Court Judge, it is imperative for persons seeking to study law to meet the requirements of the profession.

Speaking at a dinner for persons qualified to be called to the bar, Justice Baffoe-Bonnie underscored the need to maintain high standards of the legal profession in order to enhance justice delivery in the country.

“This year if they pass we will pass them, if they fail, they will not be admitted, and we are not going to lower standards just to accommodate anybody who has applied. Law is law and you must meet the requirements,” Justice Baffoe-Bonnie said.

His comments come after over 80 percent of students passed the final examination conducted in July by the Independent Examination Committee (IEC) of the General Legal Council (GLC) to select qualified students of the Ghana School of Law (GSL).

The general position of Ghana’s law is that the GLC is the primary institution that regulates legal education in Ghana.

Citi News‘ analysis of the results revealed that some 81 percent of the over 800 Part Two Professional Law Course students – defined as candidates who started and completed their professional law course on various campuses of the GSL – passed.

However, 18 percent of candidates who sat for the exams failed at least one or more of the papers written in July 2022.

The percentage of successful candidates belonging to the post-call law class – defined as persons who have been called to the Bar in other common law jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Nigeria and The Gambia was, however, lower; at over 60 percent.

Around 33 percent of post-call candidates failed at least one paper, meaning they are ineligible to be considered for the Ghana Bar this year.

Put together, some 850 candidates of the Ghana School of Law are fit to be considered for the Ghana Bar on November 11, 2022, provided they have equally met other requirements, such as “Good character”