Do you want to become a lawyer in Ghana and be called Counsel, Esquire, the private legal practitioner, and all the titles you hear about? The journey to becoming a lawyer in Ghana has three main stages: the academic stage, the professional stage, and the pupilage stage. In this content, I explain all three stages of becoming a lawyer and how you can be well-guided to make a decision to be a lawyer in Ghana. I'm Agyekum Michael Appiah, and this is Myke Educate.
So, I'm writing how to become a professional lawyer in Ghana especially all those of you out there who are SHS leavers and have the ambition of becoming lawyers or who are first-degree holders or graduates from one institution or another and seeking to further your studies in law and practice law in Ghana. I want to explain everything there is to know about becoming a lawyer in Ghana. Let's get straight into it.
There are three stages you will pass through before you can become a lawyer and they are;
The first stage to becoming a lawyer in Ghana is the academic stage, and the second stage is the professional stage, and the last but not least stage also is the pupilage stage. When you pass through all these three stages, you are sure to become a lawyer in Ghana. If you don't pass through all of them, you cannot become a lawyer in Ghana—no two ways about that.
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Academic Stage To Becoming A Lawyer.
So, let's start with the academic stage. The academic stage is where you get to learn what we call substantive law. The law has two main legs: procedural laws and substantive laws. The stage where you learn the substantive laws is the academic stage. You get to learn all the laws that you would have to use to practice as a lawyer when you become one. So, we talk about criminal law, commercial law, land law, intellectual property law, administrative law, international law, private international law, conflict of laws, jurisprudence, the law of contracts, the Ghana legal system and methods, equity and succession of trust law, environmental law—all of these laws are what you learn at the academic stage.
Everyone who wants to become a lawyer in Ghana will pass through the academic stage, whether you are coming from SHS with WASSCE or SCE or you are coming from the point of postgraduate studies. Whether you have a first degree, master's, PhD, or are a professor in another field, once you want to become a lawyer in Ghana, you'll pass through this first stage, which is the academic stage. The academic stage is where you get to study what we call LLB, which simply means Bachelor of Laws and is the first degree in law. You would have to acquire that degree. It is termed as LLB because it was originated from one Latin phrase which simply means "Legum Baccalaureus."
So, LLB is obtained first as the first stage of practicing law or becoming a law lawyer in Ghana. You need to go to a school that is accredited for that purpose and acquire a first degree in law. What qualifies you to actually gain admission to study the LLB or the first degree in law at a university that is running the program? First, for SHS students, you need to complete your SHS program and have the WASSCE certificate or the SCE certificate. When you have any of these certificates, you have the primary qualification.
The good news is that you could come from any background. You could be a science student, a general student, a business student, sometimes a home economics student or a visual arts student and still be able to read law. You may be an agricultural student as well in SHS and still be able to read law. The important thing is that the grade should be very good. You are better off having a single-digit aggregate before you consider applying for law.
Some schools will write on their website that when you have an aggregate of 20 or better, you will get in, but that depends on the level of performance for a particular year and the number of people who are applying to the law program. If everybody applying for that year to, say, KNUST, for example, has aggregate seven or eight or nine, chances are that if you have 20 and you think you saw that on a website, you will not qualify and get admission. You are better off getting a good grade from the start. So, aggregate six to ten could be a good one for you. Single-digit is always a good one for an LLB student. It's not a program you can do with poor grades—not at all.
So, if you're in SHS now, you are better off studying hard and getting the grades that can really get you admission to read the law program at any university. For those who have certificates other than SHS certificates, that is, WASSCE certificates, you can come from any other field. You must be above the age of 25 and should have a good class. What it means is that so long as you are 25 years or above, you can study law once you get the class that qualifies. Most schools often take a minimum of second class upper for you to read law. If you have a first class, it's good news for you.
Now, for some schools, they may consider a lower class, but I think you are better off aiming at second class or first class if you really want to read law after your first degree in political science, medicine, engineering, nursing, pharmacy, or any other field at all. You can come to read law. If you want to do so, you should have at least a second class upper or first class straight away, and you'll be able to qualify to get admission to do your first degree in law, which is part of the academic stage that qualifies you to become a lawyer in Ghana.
Now, what you also need to know under the academic stage of qualifying to be a lawyer is the question of which schools you should go to pursue the LLB degree. There are universities in Ghana, both private and public, that have been accredited by the Ghana Accreditation Board to run the law degree program. You don't go to any university at all to obtain your LLB degree. You have to go to only universities that are accredited for that purpose or that the program is accredited for them to run as an institution. Some of the common ones that I can recommend you do research on and apply to are KNUST, University of Ghana, GIMPA, UPSA, and some private schools like Mountcrest University, Lancaster University, Wisconsin International, and Central University.
Professional Stage To Becoming A Lawyer.
After successful completion of the LLB degree program at those universities or any of them that you happen to go to, you'll be awarded the LLB degree. Then you can use that to start the second stage, which is the professional stage. The professional stage is where you learn the procedural laws—the laws that explain the procedures involved in putting the law into motion. The professional stage entails enrolling into the Ghana School of Law to undertake a two-year program called the professional law course, which is in part one and two. You do it for two years. That is what the professional stage entails. You have to apply, and once you meet the admission requirements, you get admitted to the school for the professional stage and then do courses such as criminal procedure, civil procedure, evidence law, commercial law, and things like that, which explain to you the procedure of practicing the law properly and also how you can actually carry yourself about as a lawyer and all of that.
So, how do you get admission to the law school? To get admission to the law school, first of all, you must have the LLB degree already, which I explained to you. You have to apply or register for the entrance exam, which is the law school entrance exam, the controversial one you hear about. You have to apply for it, and when you apply or register for it, you write it and you must pass. If you don't pass, am sorry you cannot go to the law school. Once you pass that exam, you qualify to go to the law school once you complete some admission requirements. One of them is to be able to sign an undertaking form and also to get a police clearance form filled and all of that. Once you meet all those requirements, you will be admitted into the law school to do the two-year program, which is part one and two.
At the law school, you have to pass all the law school exams, which are the bar exams. You have to pass those of part one and then those of part two. Once you pass that, you'll be qualified to be admitted to the roll of lawyers. You'll be added to the roll of lawyers—a big book that has a list of all the lawyers in Ghana. Your name will be entered there. But before that, you do a number of things. Number one way is that you must pass an interview. There's an interview that will be organized, and you have to pass that interview before you can be enrolled and then called to the bar as a lawyer in Ghana. The General Legal Council is only going to enroll you and you will only be called to the bar when you satisfy two requirements. Number one is that you have passed all the exams that are required and passed the interview at the law school. Number two is that you are also a person of good character. That is very important. We don't allow people who are not of good character to join the legal profession at all. So, you must meet that requirement as well.
Pupilage Stage To Becoming A Lawyer.
Now, when you have met these requirements and you get enrolled and called to the bar, you cannot practice as a lawyer unless you have a license issued by the General Legal Council. That is also very important, and that leads me to the last stage, which is the pupilage stage. The pupilage stage involves you undertaking a training program for six months under a qualified lawyer—a lawyer
