The Ghana Law Society (GLS) is proposing a mandatory minimum of 10 hours of free legal service annually for every lawyer in Ghana as part of measures to improve access to justice.
President of the Society, Rockson-Nelson Etse Dafeamekpor, announced the proposal at the maiden Annual Bar Conference of the GLS in Accra on Wednesday.
He said the proposal was intended to help ordinary Ghanaians who struggle to obtain legal assistance because they cannot afford professional fees.
According to Mr Dafeamekpor, many disputes involving tenancy, property and basic agreements could be resolved before they escalate if people had access to early legal advice.
He said requiring lawyers to dedicate a minimum number of hours to pro bono work would place a direct responsibility on the profession to extend legal services to people who are unable to pay for them.
“We are proposing a minimum of 10 hours annually for every lawyer to be able to provide pro bono legal services,” he said.
The proposal forms part of a wider reform agenda being advanced by the GLS to address gaps in access to legal services, particularly outside Ghana’s major urban centres.
Mr Dafeamekpor also proposed changes to the post-qualification training system for newly trained lawyers, including the possibility of deploying them under a National Service arrangement.
Under the proposal, newly qualified lawyers could be posted to district assemblies, Legal Aid offices and district courts to provide legal support while gaining practical experience.
He argued that such a system could simultaneously address weaknesses in the current attachment arrangement and take legal services to communities that have limited access to lawyers.
The GLS President said Ghana has fewer than 8,000 lawyers with active practising certificates and claimed that more than 190 districts do not have a single law firm.
He described the situation as a major access-to-justice gap and called for reforms that would make legal services more accessible to people outside the major cities.
The proposals were announced as lawyers, judges, policymakers and other stakeholders gathered for the Society’s first Annual Bar Conference.
The conference, held under the theme “Legal Reforms: The Place of the Ghanaian Lawyer,” focused on reforms within the legal profession and the wider justice system.
Source: www.kumasimail.com
