Ghana is producing law graduates who lack the practical skills to perform in court, according to former Director of the Ghana School of Law, Kwaku Ansa-Asare.
Speaking on Joy News’ on Monday, June 2, the veteran legal educator criticised the current legal education system, arguing that it is failing to produce practice-ready lawyers.
“We are training lawyers who don’t know how to move a court,” he said bluntly.
“Your first day in court after being called to the Bar, the judge says, ‘You are before me, move the court.’ And you don’t even know how to do it. That’s a big problem.”
His remarks come amid growing debate over the Legal Education Bill, which seeks to reform aspects of the country’s legal training framework. But Mr. Ansa-Asare believes the proposed reforms are flawed from the outset, starting with the title of the bill.
“In the first place, the title ‘Legal Education Bill’ is a little troubling,” he said.
“Legal education comprises both academic and professional training. If the government intends to decentralise and ensure all law faculties can train lawyers, then the bill must be about legal practice, not just legal education.”
He stressed that the separation of academic and professional legal training in Ghana has created a dangerous gap that leaves students unprepared for real-world practice.
“Our system is not integrated. For three years, we teach students the academic side—where to find the law, sources of law. Then we dump them into the Ghana School of Law for just two years to learn how to practise. It’s too late,” he warned.
Comparing Ghana’s system to that of the United States, Mr. Ansa-Asare highlighted the integration of academic and practical training under the Juris Doctor (JD) model.
“In the US, if you’re studying Contract Law, you also take negotiation, mediation, opinion writing, and drafting. But here, all that comes only in the final stretch, and by then, it’s not enough.”
He argued that this fragmented approach explains why many newly qualified lawyers struggle in courtrooms immediately after being called to the Bar.
“You’re taught theory, but no one shows you how to move a motion, how to draft a bail application, how to write an opinion. So you show up in court and stumble through basic procedures. It’s unfair to the students, and it’s bad for justice delivery.”
Mr. Ansa-Asare concluded by calling for holistic reform that addresses both academic content and practical training.
“If we really want to fix the problem, the bill must cover every aspect—from how the law is taught in the universities to how it is practised in the courts. Otherwise, we’ll just be circling back to this debate again in a few years,” he noted.