Outgoing Chief Justice, Georgina Theodora Wood, has expressed worry over the falling standards of legal training in the country.
The poor training, she added, has culminated into the poor performance of lawyers at the courts.
The situation, she explained, is not only inimical to the justice delivery system, but the development of the country as a whole since the actions of such lawyers have lasting effect on the generality of Ghanaians.
The country, she stated, stands to gain if legal education and training is improved as the judiciary, which serves as adjudication centre, will have the right human resource component to discharge expected duties effectively .
Speaking at the 2017 African Law Schools Forum hosted by the Faculty of Law of the University of Cape Coast , Her ladyship called on the academic institutions running law programmes to emphasize quality in the training of lawyers as quality legal education is the bedrock for an effective and efficient judiciary.
She explained that judges in the country have consistently complained about the quality of lawyers being produced today as their performance at court leaves much to be desired.
” Truth be told ,Ghana complains, Ghanaian judges complain that the quality of legal education is suffering a nosedive. Judges ,especially judges in the most senior judiciary are not quite happy with the standard of practice at our courts,” she added.
Mrs. Georgina Woode indicated that since it is these same lawyers who would in the future assume positions on the bench, efforts must be doubled to improve their training so that the country does not get shortchanged in the future .
“If we get good lawyers, we are bound to get good judges,” she reiterated.
Mrs. Georgina Wood indicated that a good legal education should teach, model and shape a student’s sense of moral and ethical responsibilities as someone who has been trained in the law.
The Forum which was held under the auspices of the International Association of Law Schools (IALS), was on the theme “Decolonizing Legal Education in Africa”.
On his part, the Acting Dean of the Faculty of Law UCC, Prof. Obeng Mireku, said as a body of Law Schools , they are worried about the imposition of Western legal concepts which have over the years been used to teach and produce lawyers and judges.
