Suit Against General Legal Council Adjourned

Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare (left), Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood (right)

The Supreme Court has adjourned indefinitely the suit filed against the General Legal Council (GLC), challenging the methods and criteria used in the selection and admission of LLB holders who desire to acquire licence to practise law in the country.

This was to enable the parties in the case to put their house in order, to allow them confer and file their joint memorandum of issues.

The seven-member panel of judges presided over by Justice Jones Dotse stated that the lawyer  for the plaintiff – Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare, a US-based law professor – had not agreed with the defendants.

The presiding judge contended that there had been so much back and forth in respect of the case filed at the court in 2015, adding that it (court) had been trying to bring closure to the matter.

Justice Dotse urged both parties to try and come to a consensus over the memorandum of issues.

The judges of the apex court held that the parties must again liaise with the registrar of the court to clean the docket, indicating that all applications dismissed in the course of the case must be cleared from the file.

Justice Dotse however, expressed displeasure over comments suggesting that the judges are not willing to determine the case in view of the fact that the GLC is made up of Supreme Court judges.

Remarking further, Justice Dotse said the comments were unfortunate, especially when the GLC had lost cases in the Supreme Court.

Dorothy Afiriyie Ansah, representing the Attorney General (AG), said the AG’s office had not been contacted in respect of the memorandum.

She said the AG was also in the process of amending its statement of case, insisting that the move could change the issue.

Ofosua Amagyei, lawyer for the plaintiffs, said a brief by their client indicated that earlier attempts to reach a consensus on the memorandum had failed.

On October 15, 2015, Prof Asare filed a suit against the General Legal Council (GLC) and the Attorney General over the way and manner the Ghana School of Law con­ducts its entrance examinations and interviews for students who want admission into the school.

He argued that the rigid ceiling imposed by the GLC on Bachelor of Law Degree (LLB) holders who would be al­lowed an opportunity to train and become lawyers is grossly unfair and overrides national interest.

By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson 

jeffdegraft44@yahoo.com