The Founding President of think tank, IMANI Centre for Policy and Education is calling on the incoming Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo, to rid the General Legal Council (GLC) of outmoded regulations that impede the progress of the bar.
Franklin Cudjoe wants Sophia Akuffo -- who will play a key role on the Council when she officially assumes the position as Chief Justice -- to make the GLC more amenable to current changes and development in the legal profession.
The Council, which regulator of Ghana's legal profession and education, has come under criticism recently for suspending popular human rights lawyer, Francis Xavier Sosu, for three years for breaching two guidelines, among them publishing pictures and comments of a case he was handling on Facebook.
According to GLC, Mr Sosu published the pictures and comments with his firm’s name, address and telephone numbers attached “with the primary motive of personal advertisement and touting”.
Read: Francis-Xavier Sosu banned from practicing as lawyer
The Council does not permit lawyers to undertake any form of advertisement, a rule critics say prevents good lawyers from shining.
“This whole thing about advertising by lawyers; Hello, we are in the 21st Century. How do you want us to know which lawyers are doing well or not?” he said about the GLC's anti-advertisement guideline during an interview on Hard Truth, a current affairs programme that airs on the Joy News channel on Multi TV, Wednesday.
He also joined many to criticise current limitations on the admission of persons into the Ghana School of Law.
A lecturer at the Law Faculty of the University of Ghana, Dr Raymond Atuguba, is among lawyers who believe that qualified universities must be allowed to issue certificates to persons to practice law in Ghana.
Currently the Ghana School of Law – administered by the Board of Legal Education – is the only institution that certifies lawyers to practice in the country.
The Board of Legal Education is a sub-body of the General Legal Council.
Commenting on what has been described as the monopoly of the Ghana School of Law in legal education, Franklin Cudjoe urged Sophia Akuffo to "break this old curse on the Legal Council" that restricts entry into the law school.
"Ghana School of Law should be entirely scrapped,” he adds.
Sophia Akuffo will face the Appointments Committee of Parliament for what is expected to be grueling 10-hour vetting process on Friday.
Photo: Sophia Akuffo
However, commenting on Friday’s vetting, Franklin Cudjoe admonished the Committee members to explore the incoming Chief Justice's ideological background and her ideological stance on key legal issues such as the death penalty.
“I will be expecting the Committee to actually probe the legal story behind Madam Sophia Akufo. What has been her background? How many landmark judgements has she been part of? Has she done any seminal work in her area? Has she done any seminal work that could be acclaimed?” he offered as some of the relevant areas that should be probed.
Justice Sophia Akuffo takes over from Justice Georgina Wood who retired on June 7, 2017.
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