Ghana School of Law to be relocated on new campus

Enoch Darfah Frimpong Education Apr - 13 - 2013 , 23:53

A new campus is to be constructed to relocate the Ghana School of Law (GSL) from its present site in the central business district of Accra.
The project, which will cost $40 million, is expected to be completed in four years.

Already, a five-acre land at the University of Ghana has been earmarked for the project.

When completed, the new campus will provide a congenial atmosphere for sound teaching, learning and professional legal training.

Speaking at a ceremony to enrol 38 new lawyers, including 11 women, in Accra yesterday, the Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Theodora Wood, said the project formed part of the medium to long-term measures by the General Legal Council to address the enormous challenges arising from the present location of the GSL.

She told the new lawyers that their legal education was not over yet, saying for them to excel professionally, there was the need for them to engage in continuous education.

She advised them to conduct their affairs with honesty, integrity, civility and decorum, attributes which must be coveted by all who desired to excel.

She urged them to cultivate the virtues of true humanity, gentleness, decency, respect for all professional colleagues, particularly their seniors, and the office of the judge.

Another thing the Chief Justice spoke against was the use of the airwaves by lawyers to fight their cases.

“Fighting our cases on the airwaves without a twinge of conscience and in patent violation of the ethics of the profession, rather than proffering sound legal arguments in the courtroom, is most unprofessional,” the Chief Justice said.

Mrs Justice Wood said an equally disturbing trend was the vitriolic attacks on judges because people had different views on decisions the bench had delivered.

Those attacks, she said, had serious implications for the legal system nationally and internationally.

She told the new lawyers that as members of the noble profession, acting in a professional and ethical manner, adhering strictly to the code of conduct of the professional association and the singular purpose of promoting sound justice administration must be their daily pursuit.

She implored them to keep abreast of the rapid development in the law and a never-ending quest for increased knowledge and study, as the life of the lawyer was a world of hard work, serious study and legal research.

Mrs Justice Wood said it was imperative for the lawyers to take continuing legal education seriously if they must effectively play their role in the national development agenda.

She indicated that the road to becoming lawyers had not been easy and that their time in school should make them aware that the practice of law was a demanding one.

She congratulated the new lawyers and their friends and relations whose tremendous support and encouragement in diverse ways had earned the lawyers their legal training.

While congratulating the lawyers, Mrs Justice Wood said she would count on their unwavering loyalty and devotion as they embarked on the challenging but exciting phase of their professional careers.

The Chief Justice said many had expressed disappointment at the increasing lack of civility among professional lawyers which, unfortunately, sometimes showed in the lack of respect between the bench and the bar.

Present at the function was the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mrs Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, who had earlier moved the motion for the lawyers to be enrolled.