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26.02.2007 General News

Prof. Mills wants legal education practicalized

26.02.2007 LISTEN
By myjoyonline

NDC flagbearer Prof. John Atta-Mills has called for reforms in legal education to make it responsive to the needs of the nation.

He was addressing the 34th annual Law Week celebration of the University of Ghana in Accra being celebrated under the theme; Ghana at 50, the growth of legal education.

Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Joe Ghartey and Foreign Minister, Nana Akuffo-Addo also addressed the function.

Prof Mills called for a total reform in methodology of teaching at the Law School so as to make it more competitive to meet international demand.

He said Ghanaian Law should be taught as an integrated subject rather than the current segmentation, as well as placing Constitutional Law into the context of Ghanaian political history.

Again he said a serious look needed to be given to the high cost of legal education, otherwise it could soon become the ivory tower for the rich and to the exclusion of poor students. Currently law students at the university pay close to ¢10 million annually.

Joe Ghartey, who was Guest of Honour, said the fuel for legal education was democracy and that for the past decade legal education was thriving because of the stability the country was enjoying.

Nana Akuffo Addo on his part called on practitioners to exhibit high creativity such as characterized the work of lawyers of old and added that the law profession needed to be modified to bridge the gap between the citizenry and legal education.

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