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Diasporia News of Monday, 27 March 2006

Source: GNA

Ghana School of Law urged to address gaps

Accra, March 27, GNA - Ghanaian law students in the United Kingdom (UK) have appealed to the General Legal Council of Ghana to address gaps in the admission of candidates studying the Post-Call programme at the Ghana School of Law.

Mr Kwaku Aboagye-Amoa-Esa, Spokesperson for the Ghana Students Studying the Legal Practice Course (LPC), said students, who studied the Bar Vocational Course (BVC) in the United Kingdom were allowed to pursue the Post Call programme at the Ghana School of Law (GSL) even though they had not done their training.

However, he said in a release in Accra on Monday, students who studied the LPC, which was the final professional course for solicitors in the UK, were not allowed to pursue the Post Call Law Programme at the GSL because they had not done their training.

Mr Aboagye-Amoa-Esa said in the UK, until a student completed his training, he was not qualified as a Lawyer and thus could not hold himself as a practising barrister nor a solicitor.

He noted that according to the GSL, the Post Call programme was designed for Commonwealth citizens, who qualified as lawyers abroad, who wanted to practice in Ghana, yet the Bar Vocational Course students, who did not qualify in the UK, were allowed to do the Post Call, which took only three months to complete.

"For the LPC students, if they want to practice in Ghana, they have to undertake the full two-year qualifying certificate in law at the GSL, without any exemption although they have done almost all the subjects at the LPC."

Mr Aboagye-Amoa-Esa said the situation was not only a repetition of studies, but also unfair, hence the need for the General Legal Council to address "the discrimination".