Thaddeus Sory Calls for Separation of Legal Education from GLC’s Control
Private legal practitioner and law lecturer, Thaddeus Sory, has called on the General Legal Council (GLC) to relinquish its control over legal education in Ghana, arguing that its dual role as regulator and trainer undermines transparency and fairness in the system.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on October 20, Mr. Sory said the current arrangement, where the GLC both supervises and regulates legal education, has blurred institutional boundaries and created mistrust in the process of admission and assessment of law students.
“I don’t think it diminishes or takes anything away from the law school,” he said, adding that separating the Council’s regulatory duties from educational functions would enhance accountability and restore public confidence.
Mr. Sory proposed the introduction of a national bar examination to replace the current entrance exams and interviews administered by the GLC. This, he explained, would standardize the qualification process for all law graduates and eliminate perceptions of bias.
“The students you train and those universities from which you push them, let them all write one exam, and let there be an overall body to assess which of them is a lawyer. That’s the bar exam,” he stated.
He further argued that such a system would promote fairness and transparency. “It will take away this whole thing where a group of people sit down and decide who qualifies,” he said.
Mr. Sory also questioned what he described as inconsistencies in how some individuals are called to the bar. “You suddenly hear that somebody has been called to the bar, and you are wondering at what point in time that person went through the law school,” he remarked, insisting that a unified bar exam would “take away all of that.”
He urged the GLC to focus strictly on its core regulatory mandate rather than directly managing legal education. “The GLC has a lot of things to do. They should focus on that and leave the school education,” he advised.
For decades, legal education in Ghana has been centralized under the General Legal Council and the Ghana School of Law (GSL) — the only institution authorized to train students for the Bar. This monopoly has long attracted criticism over limited admission slots, high failure rates, and perceived lack of transparency in entrance examinations and interviews.
Calls for reform have intensified in recent years, with legal practitioners and advocacy groups such as the National Association of Law Students (NALS) demanding that the GLC restrict itself to regulating the profession rather than controlling training.
In response to these concerns, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr. Dominic Ayine, in July announced a sweeping reform of Ghana’s legal education framework. The reforms seek to abolish the current Ghana School of Law admissions structure and introduce a decentralised model anchored on a national bar examination.
Under the proposed system, students who obtain LLB degrees from accredited universities will complete a one-year Bar Practice Programme at their respective institutions before sitting for the national bar exam to qualify for legal practice.
The initiative aims to expand access to professional training and ensure a more transparent and equitable path to the Bar.
Source: myjoyonline.com
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