Not everybody can just get up and say I’m becoming a lawyer – Ayikoi Otoo

Former Attorney General Nii Ayikoi Otoo has expressed the view that legal education should not be considered a right for everyone.

During an exclusive interview with Koku Lumor on the Class Morning Show, Mr. Otoo emphasised the gravity of the legal profession, stating that it deals with matters of human life and liberty.

He argued that even a small mistake made by an incompetent lawyer could lead to someone being wrongly convicted and facing severe consequences, such as losing their life or property.

“Professions are different everywhere... We are dealing with human life and human liberty; the little mistake you commit, somebody will go to jail, not only going to jail but may lose his life because he’s charged with murder and an incompetent lawyer is handling the case for him; he’ll be convicted and go to the gallows, so we don’t joke with professions,” Otoo said.

He drew a parallel between law and medicine, highlighting that both professions require top-quality individuals due to their potential impact on human life. He stressed that legal education should not be open to just anyone, as the consequences of inadequate legal representation can be dire.

He indicated that law is “the same as medicine; you want the top people because you are dealing with human life; the least mistake that you do, wrong diagnosis or whatever, you’ll kill somebody, so it is not open to everybody.”

“It is not a right for everybody to just get up and say I’m becoming a lawyer; people will lose their properties and lives,” he stressed.

His perspective aligns with the sentiments expressed by former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo in 2019. Justice Akuffo cautioned against advocating for free-scale admissions into the professional law course and the mass production of lawyers, stressing the need to maintain high standards in the legal profession.

She compared legal education to medical education, noting that just as doctors and surgeons cannot be mass-produced, Ghana should not have an abundance of subpar lawyers forced upon its citizens.

The Attorney General at the time, Gloria Akuffo, also emphasised the need for a comprehensive examination of the legal education system and called for restructuring to address the issues surrounding the School of Law and the growing number of universities offering law degrees.