Law lecturer and founder of AB & David law firm, David Ofosu-Dorte, says Ghana must move beyond the debate over whether the country needs more lawyers or engineers, and instead focus on aligning professional training with national development goals.
Speaking on The Point of View on Channel One TV on Monday October 13, Ofosu-Dorte noted that Ghana currently has almost 9,500 active lawyers — combining the existing 8,600 with the 824 newly called to the bar. Of that number, he said, about 7,000 are based in Accra.
He explained that the country’s lawyer-to-population ratio stands at roughly one lawyer to 3,600 people — a lower ratio compared to the United States, which has about four lawyers for every 1,000 people, but higher than Kenya’s one to 6,200.
He said the focus of the debate should not be on whether there are “too many lawyers” but rather on three key questions: “First, what type of development are we looking for, and which professions do we want to produce more of?” “Second, how do we make it attractive for people to voluntarily go into those professions?”
“And third, how do we make those professions employable?”
He warned that failing to address these issues could leave Ghana with a growing pool of professionals who are either unemployed or underutilised, regardless of how many are trained.
Read also
Ghana has trained 11,400 lawyers since 1877 – Dr. Kwaku Boadu