Lawyer sues to strike Ghana Law Society off register, disputes licensing claims
The case, lodged through Hales Solicitors, names the Ghana Law Society, the Registrar of Companies, and the General Legal Council (GLC) as defendants.
A Ghanaian lawyer, Yaw Aning Boadu, has filed a High Court action seeking to overturn the registration and recognition of the Ghana Law Society, arguing that the body is operating outside the legal framework governing professional associations.
The case, lodged through Hales Solicitors, names the Ghana Law Society, the Registrar of Companies, and the General Legal Council (GLC) as defendants.
In court filings, Mr Aning Boadu says he is a member in good standing of the Ghana Bar Association, which he identifies as the established professional association for lawyers in Ghana.
He claims the Ghana Law Society has been presenting itself to the public and state institutions as an authorised lawyers’ body with the power to issue or renew practising licences, pupillage licences, and licences for law chambers.
According to him, the Society’s public posture, including media engagements, is designed to suggest it has lawful authority—either directly or by implication—from the GLC to perform licensing functions.
He argues that this creates a misleading impression, conflicts with statute, and weakens the regulatory architecture intended to govern professional bodies.
A key plank of his suit is that the statute governing registration of professional bodies requires strict compliance with conditions, including an asserted threshold that a registered body should represent at least 75% of persons trained and qualified in the profession concerned.
He maintains that this requirement is central to validity, and that any registration that fails that test is unlawful.
Mr Aning Boadu is asking the High Court to grant, among other reliefs:
a declaration that the Registrar of Companies’ registration of the Ghana Law Society “as a body of persons trained and qualified in the legal profession” is illegal
an order compelling the Registrar to remove the Society from the register of professional bodies
an order requiring the GLC to withdraw and erase any claimed accreditation, approval or recognition given to the Society
a perpetual injunction preventing the Society, its executives and members from holding themselves out as a registered or accredited professional body of lawyers in Ghana
