Chief Justice Anin-Yeboah and the students
Chief Justice, Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, has asked aspiring lawyers to do what is necessary to successfully overcome all challenges to prove their worth, since admission into the Ghana School of Law (GSL) is highly competitive.
According to him, even though being a lawyer is one of the world’s noblest professions, it is not a get-rich-quick scenario, pointing out that “legal education has not been easy, anywhere in the world, especially in the Western world.”
“If you look at the profession, just like any other formal profession, you have to go through a rigorous training and some of you may probably have studied other disciplines.
This may be your second degree or second profession as the Director said. Please don’t take it lightly. It is not the case that because you are a pharmacist or a doctor the law profession is going to be easy for you. Take your lessons very seriously,” he stated at the induction of 84 students at the Kumasi satellite campus of the GSL.
The Justice Chief said the legal profession is the only profession that has absolute control over one arm of government, which is the judiciary.
“It is not surprising that almost all the Speakers of Parliament are lawyers or judges. Apart from one G.R. Asiedu who was not a lawyer but became a Speaker of Parliament. If you look at the history of Ghana, since 1969 to date, all the Speakers were and are lawyers,” Justice Anin-Yeboah asserted.
He, therefore, entreated the students to do well to perform, saying, “Much has been given to you and we expect much from you. I hope that you will rise up to the occasion and get into one of the honourable professions and play your part.”
The Acting Dean of the KNUST Law Faculty, Dr. Chris Adomako Kwakye admonished the inductees to “concentrate and master the other subjects, pay particular attention to Advocacy and Legal Ethics because, without character, you cannot survive in legal practice.”
“I caution the inductees to pay attention to the study of Legal Ethics, particularly espoused in the Legal Profession Act 1960, Act 32, the Legal Profession (Professional Conduct & Etiquette) Rules, 1969, (L.I. 613) as well as the Code of Ethics of the Ghana Bar Association,” he added.
By Ernest Kofi Adu