President Mahama signs Legal Education Reform Bill into law, ending Ghana School of Law’s 66-year monopoly

President John Dramani Mahama has officially signed the Legal Education Reform Bill, 2025, into law, ending the Ghana School of Law’s exclusive control over professional legal education after 66 years.

The legislation allows accredited universities in Ghana to offer professional law training programmes, a change that legal experts, academics, and reform advocates have demanded for years. They argued that the previous arrangement limited access to the legal profession and prevented many qualified graduates from advancing.

Speaking during the signing ceremony on Monday, President Mahama explained that the new law aims to preserve high standards in legal education while also increasing opportunities for aspiring lawyers.

According to him, the legislation seeks to both regulate legal education effectively and widen access to professional legal training across the country.

He noted that the reform would be welcomed by many students and graduates who have long anticipated changes within the legal education system.

Since it was established in 1958, the Ghana School of Law has been the only institution authorised to provide the professional law course required for entry into the Ghana Bar.

Over the years, critics have maintained that the system created a major bottleneck, with large numbers of qualified law graduates unable to gain admission into the school annually.

With the passage of the new law, universities that satisfy accreditation standards set by the appropriate regulatory authorities can now run professional legal training programmes, a move expected to significantly increase capacity within Ghana’s legal education sector.