Reflections on Professional Legal Education in Ghana: An Essay in Honour of Bernard Joao Da Rocha

This article was originally published by the Author in 2019.

George A. Sarpong is Legal Practitioner and Consultant, and a Board Member of the Da Rocha Institute for Excellence in Law and Politics; He previously served as the Director, Ghana School of Law.

BACKGROUND

In early 2019, I accepted an invitation to serve on the Board of the Da Rocha Institute for Excellence in Law and Politics (DI), a non- partisan organization established to provide a platform for advocacy and research into the development of law and politics in a way that drives intellectual discourse on the subject.[1]

DI was established in memory of the late Mr Bernard JOAO da Rocha (B.J), one of the finest legal brains Ghana has ever produced; and a political colossus in his lifetime. B.J was a man of many parts. Indeed, he has been described as a “Father, Teacher, Lawyer, Historian, Politician, Author, Witty Conversationalist, Benefactor, Mentor, Role Model, an Extraordinary man, and a sage of our time.”[2]

The intention of this essay is not to address all these multifaceted aspects of B. J’s life; that will be an impossible task for which I am, in any event, not competent to address. This is an attempt at throwing light on an aspect of his life: as a professional legal educator; and for that matter, his contribution to professional legal education, by no means an important and relevant contemporary issue.

I do this against the backdrop that perhaps apart from some senior members of the Bench and Bar, not very much is known about B. J’s role in the development and advancement of professional legal education in Ghana. In so doing, I draw examples from his life and teachings; and from that and my little experience with professional legal education, proffer a few ideas for the improvement and advancement of professional legal education; a burning issue in our time.

I do so in the hope that many citizens would appreciate B. J’s contribution to the development of the Ghanaian legal system; and thus, contribute to the justification for the establishment of the DI in his memory.

B.J, THE OUTSTANDING LEGAL EDUCATOR[1]

Born on 16^th May 1927, B.J was the son of Alexander da Rocha, a pharmacist of Nigerian origin; and Sarah Baidoo from Cape Coast, both deceased. His late grandfather, Candido Da Rocha, was a reputed millionaire merchant of Lagos. B.J attended Adisadel College which he completed in 1945. Thereafter, he worked as a teacher in Larteh and Koforidua, during which time he sat for, and passed, the London University Bachelor of Arts External Examination Part 1 Degree.

Subsequently, B.J won a colonial government scholarship to read Law at the University of Nottingham from where he graduated in May 1955 with a Second Class Honours (Upper Division) Bachelor of Laws Degree (LL. B). He was called to the English Bar, Middle Temple, on 19^th June 1956, and subsequently enrolled in Ghana as a Barrister and Solicitor on 1^st March 1957.

As fate would have it, B.J could not secure employment in the public service, despite his outstanding academic credentials and the fact that he had studied Law in England on Government Scholarship. He thus turned to private legal practice, a vocation he actively pursued for well over 50 years with distinction.

Right from the onset, his sterling qualities as a lawyer became noticeable by all on the Bench and at the Bar. Little wonder, then, that he was among the nine lawyers who were invited by Prof. John H.A Lang, the first Director of Legal Education, to form the nucleus of the teaching staff of the Ghana School of Law (GLS) when it was established in 1958. Unlike the others, however, B. J never severed links with the GLS throughout his entire life.

In November 1978, the General Legal Council (GLC) appointed B.J Acting Director of Legal Education (DLE) during the absence of the substantive Director, the Late Justice Afreh. When Justice Afreh later resigned to take up an appointment as Minister for Information, B.J again was invited to act as the Director until the appointment of the late Justice Ofori Boateng as the substantive Director in October 1981.

In 1989, when Justice Ofori-Boateng was appointed a Judge of the Court of Appeal, B.J was finally called up to take over the running of the School; this time as the substantive Director of the GLS and DLE, a position he held with distinction until May 1992 when, upon the attainment of age 65, he declined to continue in office as the DLE…..

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