Accra: Acting Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie has cautioned that expanding access to legal education must not compromise quality or ethical standards. 'Our desire to expand access to legal education has always been tempered by the need to ensure that we do not destroy the prospects of quality through unregulated open gate-one that lowers standards in the interest of letting everyone in,' he stated during the commissioning of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) Law School Moot Court facility on Monday.
According to Ghana News Agency, Justice Baffoe-Bonnie drew comparisons between medical and legal school admission criteria, questioning why the legal profession should relax standards where medicine maintains rigor. 'In the medical school, they still maintain the high grade that you have to attain before you can go to the medical school. So why should we be doing the opposite for law students?' he asked.
Citing recent cases before the General Legal Council's disciplinary committee, the Acting Chief Justice expressed concern over rising ethical breaches in the profession. He recounted a case of a lawyer who stole a colleague's mobile phone at the Tema Court and tried to sell it, calling the act 'disgusting' and asking, 'where the world is coming to.'
Justice Baffoe-Bonnie advocated embedding legal ethics across every stage of legal training. 'It is not like a one-off subject that you do in your final year. You will be learning it as when like English language because it is important. An undisciplined lawyer is no lawyer at all.'
Justice Baffoe-Bonnie urged UPSA law students to appreciate the ethical gravity of their vocation. 'As future lawyers you are not just advocates for your clients, but stewards of justice and guardians of the Constitution,' he said.
He praised the UPSA Law Faculty for its newly commissioned moot court facility, calling it a significant contribution to developing competent and principled legal professionals. Prof Ernest Kofi Abotsi, Dean of the UPSA Law School, said the facility reflected the faculty's commitment to practical legal training. 'Our students are not only masters of theory but as people who have perfected practice itself,' he noted.
Prof Kwaku Mensah Mawutor, Vice Chancellor of UPSA, added that the commissioning signalled the university's dedication to transformative legal education. 'The Moot Court is more than a physical courtroom replica; it is a critical tool that allows students to step into the shoes of legal practitioners, judges and legal scholars,' he added.