CJ launches 50 years of legon law faculty (30/01/09)

Story: MacLiberty Misrowoda & Jennifer Dornoo
THE Chief Justice, Mrs Georgina Theodora Wood, has appealed to legal training institutions to let the philosophy of their training reflect the real needs of the growing society.
That, she noted, had become relevant in view of the dynamic and increasingly changing world, adding that in order to keep pace with modern developments, legal training institutions needed to review their curricular as and when necessary to enable would-be lawyers to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
Mrs Justice Wood made the appeal when she launched the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Faculty of Law of the University of Ghana last Wednesday.
The celebration, which is on the theme, “Faculty of Law (UGH) @ 50: Contribution to education, governance and socio-economic development”, has a number of activities, such as a two-day public lecture to be delivered by a Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Dr Date-Bah, a two-day law teachers’ conference, a homecoming barbecue and a grand durbar in April to climax the anniversary.
Nana Dr S.K.B Asante, the Asante Asokorehene, who recollected the history of the Faculty of Law, urged lawyers, especially fresh graduates, to take public interest law seriously and go to the rural areas to offer services to the people who did not know about their rights.
He said that as a traditional leader, he had come across many cases in which rural people, particularly widows, did not know their rights and farmers and traditional authorities whose roles were pivotal to the socio-economic development of the country lacked legal facilities.
The Dean of the Faculty of Law, Prof Kofi Quashiga, said the responsibility of the faculty was to provide Ghanaian lawyers with quality legal training to make them competitive on both the local and international markets, adding that it would stop at nothing to make that objective a reality.
Prof Quashiga commended all those who had played various roles in sustaining the faculty to bring it to its current status.
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof Clifford N.B. Tagoe, who chaired the ceremony, pledged the university’s continued support to the Faculty of Law to enable it to provide classic training to students.
He said the celebrations should afford the authorities the opportunity to examine the missions and goals of establishing the faculty and to re-orient themselves to the achievement of those missions and goals.