The arguments about access to the Ghana School of Law and the broader calls for reform are important, but they sometimes distract us from a deeper and more urgent concern, the role of ethics in the making of a lawyer.
Ethics is not an accessory to the profession; it is the backbone that gives law its credibility and honour. Legal education has never been merely about mastering statutes and precedents.
It is about forming character, shaping conscience, and cultivating the kind of integrity that elevates the profession above technical skill.
When ethics slip from view, the law loses its animating spirit. As many have said, education without ethics becomes instruction without inspiration.
The finest lawyers are not only articulate; they are grounded in the values that make justice meaningful.
The making of an ethical lawyer does not begin on the day one is called to the Bar. It begins in the classroom, in the honesty with which students cite sources, the integrity with which they sit for exams, and the respect they show for intellectual work.
A student who cheats in an examination today may one day be tempted to manipulate evidence in court.
A student who cuts corners in school is not transformed by a wig and gown; the same habits follow them into practice.
Integrity is not a professional costume; it is a personal discipline cultivated daily.
This early culture of integrity is crucial because law may be inscribed on paper, but justice is inscribed on conscience.
“It is conscience that gives law its soul.”
Strip law of ethics, and it becomes an instrument for the influential rather than a refuge for the vulnerable. Lawyers are not meant to be merchants of argument; they are stewards of justice, entrusted with the hopes of people seeking fairness and truth.
Recent ethical breaches, from judicial scandals to breaches of client trust, have chipped away at public confidence in the justice system.
These incidents compel us to ask a difficult but necessary question:
Are we training lawyers who pursue justice, or producing lawyers who simply pursue influence and advantage?
True agenda for reform
If reform in legal education is to be meaningful, it cannot stop at expanding access or improving facilities.
It must confront the deeper issues of values, mentorship, and accountability.
Ethics must cease to be a chapter in a textbook and instead become the culture of the legal community.
Legal education must go beyond the letter of the law to grasp its spirit, the “why” behind every statute and precedent.
True lawyers think critically, empathetically, and ethically.
Mentorship is indispensable.
The journey through law is long, demanding, and sometimes disorienting.
Students must walk it with humility, learning not only from books but from principled practitioners, professors who embody professionalism, and peers who challenge them to grow.
In a world that rewards shortcuts, lawyers must choose the longer, nobler path.
Credibility earned through integrity is the true currency of leadership in the legal profession.
National responsibility
As a nation, we must recognise that the public’s trust in the legal profession is sacred and must be protected with unwavering intentionality.
Ghana undeniably needs more lawyers to support its growing social and economic landscape, but it needs principled lawyers even more urgently, men and women whose character is as strong as their intellect and whose commitment to truth is as firm as their command of statutes.
In a developing country, lawyers are not merely advocates standing in courtrooms; they are architects of national progress.
They draft the contracts that attract investment, provide the legal certainty that fuels business growth, defend the rights that sustain our democracy, and shape the laws that protect the environment, children, women, and the vulnerable.
To build a fair and prosperous Ghana, we need ethical lawyers in every district, every institution, and every reform committee.
This requires a deliberate national commitment to expand access to legal education, strengthen ethical foundations, and elevate integrity as the cornerstone of the rule of law.
When ethics take root, justice grows.
And when justice grows, a nation thrives.
The writer is the Vice-Chancellor of Central University/Professor of Leadership & Organisational Development.
