Lancaster University Ghana celebrates Law Week 2016

The Chief Justice admonished law students at LUG to develop high ethical standards and a genuine love for justice delivery

Themed “In the Pursuit of Justice”, it was a week-long of activities that stimulated intellectual legal discussions, visits with a view to having practical understandings of the legal system in Ghana, an opportunity to reach out to less privileged persons within the community and an avenue for networking with prominent players within the Ghanaian legal sphere.

The law week started with an opening ceremony on Monday the 14 with distinguished guests including the Chief Justice (C.J.) of the Republic of Ghana Hon. Mrs. Georgina Wood (JSC) ably represented by Justice Joseph B. Akamba of the Supreme Court of Ghana.

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In her address, the Chief Justice admonished law students at LUG to develop high ethical standards and a genuine love for justice delivery.

Afterwards, on the C.J.’s behalf, Justice Akamba declared the 2016 Law Week officially open.

The Tuesday of the Law Week saw first year law students at LUG take a trip to the Nsawam Prisons to witness firsthand the realities of the legal profession.

While their junior colleagues where at the prisons trying to indeed ascertain whether the legal system in Ghana is indeed a just one, second year law students visited the Beacon House Orphanage in East Legon to reaffirm the humanistic and caring nature of the Law Society; presenting the kids at the orphanage with story and colouring books, taking the time to read and paint with them and also donating basic supplies like disinfectants and toiletries etc.

On Wednesday, the Law Society held its 2 annual students symposium with its members delivering papers all geared towards a proper appraisal of the legal system’s strive to do justice and proffering suggestions to rectify perceived shortcomings.

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It was a day to chill and relax at the Coco Beach Resort on Thursday, after three days of academic/semi-academic activities.

Friday however witnessed another cerebrally stimulating, engaging and exciting event as the first every moot competition in the history of LUG was held on that day.

Arguing before the “Supreme Court”, the moot participants presented arguments for and against the validity of an Article 2 action challenging the constitutionality of Ghana declaring war on Togo in light of the “spirit of friendship with all nations” enshrined in the preamble of the constitution.

This event ended with the judging panel praising the students for the level of advocacy skills they displayed and proffering advice on how to do better in the future.

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The Law Week was crowned with a grand dinner/networking event which took place at Oak Plaza Hotel. In one sense, it presented a golden opportunity for Law Society members to mingle with and glean from the experience and wealth of knowledge of the distinguished lawyers present. On the other leg, it was an opportunity for Law Society members to reflect on the events of the week, be merry and dine in harmony. Awards of various categories were given out to spice up the evening.

Speaking at the event, one of the invited guests Raymond Codjoe Esq. of R. A. Codjoe Law Offices stressed on how in current times, even though the quality and numbers of those seeking education may have increased, legal education seems to have lost sight of ethics.

He therefore made a call for a reevaluation of the educational system to enable theoretical and practical learning to go hand in hand with the teaching of ethics.

On his own part, the President of the Law Society, Alfred Momodu while thanking all the guests and stakeholders who made the week a possibility, appreciated the law students for their confidence in his leadership for the last one year plus.

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Going on to say that even though the dinner was one of his last official events as President, he was confident that he had built a solid enough foundation for an incoming executive to work on.

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