Ghana Bar Association

Ghana Bar Association
Formation1876; 148 years ago (1876)
TypeProfessional association
PurposeTo promote legal professionalism
Location
Official language
English
National President
Yaw Boafo
Websitewww.ghanabar.org

The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) is a professional association of lawyers in Ghana, including what used to be called solicitors and barristers but they are now called legal practitioners, as well as magistrates.By convention, all lawyers admitted to practice in Ghana become automatic members of the association.[1] The GBA has its roots in the Gold Coast Bar Association,[2] the first president was Sierra Leonean lawyer Francis (Frans) Dove.[3] The Bar Association drew up its first formal constitution and code of ethics in 1958 and from then on except for a few occasions when due to political reasons an annual conference has not been possible, the Bar Association holds a conference annually to take important decisions and to elect its officers who hold office for only one year but are eligible for re-election. The Bar Association considers that in this sense it is one of the most democratic institutions in Ghana.[4] The Ghana Bar Association is made up of lawyers with good standing who are legally declared to practice law in Ghana.

  1. ^ David Andreas Hesse, Hesse & Hesse. "Ghana: Ethics and practicalities". Practical Law Company. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
  2. ^ Gocking, Roger (April 1996). "Ghana's public tribunals: an experiment in revolutionary justice". African Affairs. 95 (379). Oxford University Press: 197–223. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a007717.
  3. ^ Gadzekpo, Audrey, "Dove-danquah, Mabel (1905–84)", in Eugene Benson, L. W. Conolly (eds), Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English (1994), 2nd edition, Routledge, 2005, p. 341.
  4. ^ "Ghana Bar Association". Commonwealth of Nations. Retrieved 19 July 2023.