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

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Mahama signs Legal Education Reform Bill into law

President John Dramani Mahama has signed the Legal Education Reform Bill (2025) into law, following the Parliament of Ghana’s official passage of the bill.

John Mahama’s signing the bill ends the Ghana School of Law’s 66-year monopoly, opening the door for more accredited universities to offer professional law programmes.

President Mahama, signing the bill into law on Monday, stated, “Regulate legal education and ensure the highest standards in terms of legal education, but also to open up a space for more opportunities for legal education in Ghana,” he said.

“This particular act has been one that many aspiring lawyers have been looking up to. So it’ll be fine.”

Since 1958, the Ghana School of Law has been the sole institution authorised to run the professional law course required for admission to the Ghana Bar.

With the new legislation, universities that meet accreditation requirements will now be eligible to run professional legal training programmes.

The reform is expected to ease admission pressure, expand opportunities for law graduates, and improve training quality, while ensuring strict regulation and consistent standards are maintained across all institutions through strengthened oversight nationwide.

Speaking on the floor of Parliament, the Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga, detailed that with the passage of the bill, the NDC has fulfilled its commitment to promoting equity, fairness, and improved access to legal education in Ghana.

He stated, “As has been typical of the NDC, promises made are delivered. We promised law students that if they vote for us, we will carry out reforms that will ensure equity, fairness and access to legal education”.

The Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, however, took a swipe at the NDC government.

Afenyo-Markin accuse the NDC government of failing to deliver on some of its key campaign promises.

The minority leader highlighted that the reform of legal education is important, but the government must also demonstrate commitment to other critical pledges made to Ghanaians.

Also, in a post shared by X, the Majority Chief Whip, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, detailed that he has been working on this for nearly 10 years, noting that when he began, naysayers said it wasn’t possible.

He wrote, “Breaking News:

1. Parliament of Ghana has just passed the groundbreaking LEGAL EDUCATION REFORM BILL, 2026.

2. This is a product of nearly 10 years of persistent and consistent advocacy on my part, which my Party bought into and made it a major campaign promise.

3. When I began, the naysayers said it wasn’t possible.

4. The Reform is pervasive. The Bar, too has been reformed such that we no longer have a single group of professional lawyers.

5. Today, we have the GHANA LAW SOCIETY with a huge membership at the Bar.

6. I’m a very happy man today. I wish all prospective Law students the best of luck.

7. Reform is always Good. This is a new dawn for our legal profession in Ghana.

Here we go……….”

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