80% of licensed lawyers in Ghana operate from Greater Accra

Dennislaw News can report that close to 80percent of the total population of licensed private legal practitioners currently operating in Ghana are stationed in the Greater Accra Region.

Data sourced from the Lawyer Locator Portal of the Ghana Bar Association as of 19th June 2021 shows that only 3,213 lawyers have been licensed to operate in the Legal Year 2020.

Of this figure, a significant 2,530 are based in the capital alone, representing 78.74%. The Ashanti Region has the second-highest concentration, with 306 licensed lawyers representing 9.52%.

The Western Region follows at a far third with only 64 licensed lawyers, representing 1.99%.
In the Upper West Region, the available data show that there are only 4 lawyers.

118 are however not affiliated to any region.

NORTHERN REGIONS

Lawyer Sheikh Arif Abdullah, the Northern Regional Bar Treasurer speaking exclusively to Dennislaw News, observed that there may be one lawyer out of the reported 21 licensed lawyers in the northern zone, operating in the North-East Region. He was however skeptical of the availability of any licensed lawyers in the Savannah Region.

Additionally, Lawyer Abdullah revealed that there aren’t any High or Circuit Courts in both the North-East and Savannah Regions, which means that residents in these places have to move to the Northern Region before they can be administered justice through the processes of these higher courts.

“It makes litigation expensive for the client because they have to go through long distances to come to the court in Tamale,” he noted.

VOLTA AND OTI REGIONS

For Lawyer Andrews Adugu who operates in the Volta and Oti Regions, the high concentration of lawyers in the Greater Volta Region areas poses critical challenges to the dispensation of legal services.

“Access to lawyers, proximity to lawyers is hampered. To the best of my knowledge, I think two of those lawyers are in Nkwanta. I do not know of any lawyer who is in Dambai, I do not know of any lawyer who is permanently resident in Kete-Krachi and for all those who seek legal services, the closest place they can come to is Hohoe where there are law firms. The cost of traveling and the distance is a factor that is taken into consideration when seeking justice,” Lawyer Andrews added.

He further noted that it is important to have a lot more lawyers dealing with a particular case in a particular court, to enrich the court with the legal authorities and resources it needs to arrive at its decisions.

“So even in the work of the judges, they will still have some challenges in not having, for want of a better expression, adequate legal views or opinions, and submissions so that they can write a more comprehensive judgment,” he reasoned.

There isn’t a High Court in the Oti Region.

BONO, BONO EAST, AND AHAFO REGIONS

For the Secretary of the Ghana Bar Association at the Bono Region Mr. Alexander Amponsah, however, the major cause for the disparity in the distribution of the licensed lawyers in the Bono, Bono-East, and Ahafo Regions is the recent regional reorganization that split the original Brong-Ahafo Region into three separate regions.

“Until recently, there was nothing like Bono East, Bono, and Ahafo. We were together. You see that all the courts are concentrated in Sunyani, which is the Bono capital. Most of the lawyers are based in Sunyani, only a handful of them are outside Sunyani, that is Techiman and Goaso. In Goaso, I know there are about two or so. In Techiman too, about two or three. The rest are in Sunyani. We don’t actually have a bar association for Bono East, Ahafo, and Bono, separately. It’s only one.”

He also revealed that persons in these other areas have to travel to Sunyani, as has been the “norm”, to access legal and justice services.

“That has been the trend all along. The High Courts are constituted in Sunyani so it is easier for the clients to come to Sunyani than for the lawyers to go outside Sunyani.”
The bar secretary however revealed that there are plans in the offing to establish new courts in the new regions.”

“There are plans in the pipeline for a new High Court to be established in the new regions. I remember we met the Chief Justice some time ago and he said there are plans in the pipeline to establish a new High Court in Goaso and Techiman, so we expect it to come to pass. The regions were created only two years ago, so it is now coming up for discussion. The Chief Justice has given his blessings that two new High Courts will be established, one in Goaso and one at Techiman.

Meanwhile, the data also shows that there are 928 legal chambers throughout the country.

See the full breakdown of the regional distribution and their percentages of Licensed Lawyers in Ghana below;