Ghana legal profession regulatory reforms

In mid-September 2026, Ghana’s Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr. Dominic Ayine, announced plans to introduce legislation to establish the Legal Practitioners Standard Board. This proposed independent statutory body would be responsible for setting professional conduct standards, managing continuing competence requirements, and housing an independent disciplinary committee composed of laypersons, Bar members, and other professionals.

Following this announcement, Yaw Acheampong Boafo, the former president of the Ghana Bar Association, raised criticisms regarding the reform process. Boafo alleged that the reforms to legal education are resulting in the “unlawful training of lawyers” and claimed that the process was driven by individuals outside the legal system. He further asserted that while legislation was passed to create a new statutory body, the body has not been formally established, leading him to claim that the Chief Justice and the Attorney General have assumed the powers intended for that unestablished entity.

By late September 2026, the emergence of the Ghana Law Society (GLS) as a new professional body prompted calls for unity between it and the established Ghana Bar Association (GBA). During the maiden Annual Bar Conference of the GLS, Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin urged both organizations to avoid “institutional rivalry,” suggesting that professional pluralism should foster diverse ideas rather than competing camps. He proposed structured cooperation in law reform, legal aid, and judicial independence.

Additionally, Chief of Staff Julius Debrah cautioned against partisan politics influencing professional conduct. To address the concentration of legal services in major cities, GLS President Rockson-Nelson Etse Kwami Dafeamekpor proposed a 12-month national service programme to deploy newly qualified lawyers to underserved districts and legal aid offices.