Ghana’s law schools will introduce a one-year “Pre-Bar Course” from August 2026 as part of sweeping reforms to legal education, while thousands of law graduates caught in a long-standing admissions backlog will gain a new route into professional legal training without sitting an entrance examination.

The changes were announced in interim directives issued on 12 June by Professor Raymond Atuguba, Director of Legal Education and Director of the Ghana School of Law, following the passage of the Legal Education Act, 2026 (Act 1170).

The reforms are expected to benefit between 5,000 and 8,000 Bachelor of Laws (LLB) graduates who have been unable to secure admission to professional law training programmes in recent years.

Under the new law, professional legal training will be decentralised from the Ghana School of Law to accredited university law faculties. However, authorities say there is insufficient time to accredit institutions before the 2026/27 academic year begins.

To bridge the transition, accredited law faculties will offer a one-year Pre-Bar Course for final-year LLB students and graduates. The programme will cover subjects including Company Law, Commercial Law, Family Law, Alternative Dispute Resolution, and Interpretation of Deeds and Statutes.

Students who complete the course will proceed to the Law Practice Training (LPT) Programme, which will focus on practical legal skills such as advocacy, legal ethics, evidence, conveyancing, and civil and criminal procedure.

The directives also abolish the Independent Examinations Committee entrance examination, which for years served as the gateway to the Ghana School of Law.

The examination had become a major bottleneck in legal education, with an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 graduates sitting the test annually but only a limited number gaining admission.

Under the transitional arrangements, backlog students may apply directly to accredited law faculties or the Ghana School of Law to undertake the Pre-Bar Course, subject to institutional capacity and admission requirements.

Law faculties have also been instructed to review curricula, recruit practice-oriented lecturers, improve facilities and prepare for accreditation applications expected to open in October 2026.

Authorities expect accredited institutions to begin independently running the Law Practice Training Programme from the 2027/28 academic year.

“The measures are intended to ensure an orderly and effective transition to the new legal education regime, especially for students graduating with an LLB this year, while simultaneously addressing the long-standing backlog of LLB graduates in Ghana,” Atuguba said.

The directives were circulated to deans of law faculties at several institutions, including Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), GIMPA, Ashesi University, Central University and Accra Metropolitan University.