Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine, has announced plans to introduce the Legal Practitioners Standard Board Bill to Parliament.
The proposed body, which will be established through legislation, is expected to operate independently of the government and provide a separate mechanism for handling complaints against lawyers.
The announcement was made in a speech read on his behalf by Deputy Attorney-General Dr Justice Srem-Sai at the Ghana Bar Association Conference 2026/27 on September 14, held under the theme “150 Years of Ghana’s Legal Evolution: Transforming the Profession and Driving its Future with Industry.”
Dr Ayine said his experience as a private legal practitioner, law teacher, lawmaker and Attorney-General had given him a broad perspective on the profession and its relationship with the state.
Against this background, Dr Ayine announced plans to introduce the proposed legislation, saying: “It is against this background that I wish to announce formally before this conference my decision to bring before Cabinet and, in due course, before Parliament, the Legal Practitioners Standard Board Bill. The bill will do three things.”
He said the proposed bill would establish the Legal Practitioners Standard Board as an independent statutory body responsible for setting and maintaining professional conduct and continuing competence among lawyers.
The legislation will also establish an independent disciplinary committee within the board, separate from its licensing and standard-setting functions.
Dr Ayine said the committee would include lay persons, representatives of other professions and members of the Bar, with clear procedures for receiving, investigating and determining complaints against lawyers.
He said the proposed framework would also protect the rights of lawyers facing disciplinary proceedings, including the right to know the case against them, be fully heard, receive proportionate sanctions and appeal to the courts.
“That way no lawyer in our beloved country need ever fear that the disciplinary process can be turned into an instrument of harassment by clients, a competitor or the Bench or indeed by the government,” he said.
Dr Ayine stressed that the proposed reforms were not intended to give government control over the disciplinary process.
“This reform is not an attempt by the government to bring the disciplinary proceedings of lawyers under political control,” he said.
“It is quite the opposite. It is to extricate the disciplinary procedures from government control and make the Ghana Bar Association and the Bar the owners of this process.”
He said the independence of the proposed regulatory body was particularly important because lawyers must be able to hold governments to account.
“It is only this kind of regulator that we believe can credibly discipline the profession whose members must from time to time stand up to the government of the day,” he said.
Dr Ayine said the bill would undergo extensive consultation with the Ghana Bar Association, the General Legal Council, the Judicial Council and other relevant stakeholders before being presented to Parliament.
Credit: Myjoyonline