Ghana announced reforms to its legal education system in January 2026, aiming to make bar admission more accessible while maintaining professional standards. The changes came after years of complaints from law graduates who faced restrictive barriers. Many qualified students simply could not become lawyers because there were not enough training spots available. The new system tries to address this bottleneck, and the approach Ghana took offers lessons for Somalia as we think about our own legal education challenges.

What made Ghana’s reform process notable was how they developed it. Instead of having a small committee draft rules in isolation, the government consulted widely with students, practicing lawyers, law professors, and bar association leaders. When different groups with different interests have input into a process, the resulting rules are more likely to work in practice and less likely to face organized opposition. This is a simple point, but one that gets overlooked when institutions try to reform themselves quickly without building consensus first.

Growth Across African Legal Markets

The timing of Ghana’s reforms reflects a broader trend: legal services are growing across Africa, and countries that produce more qualified lawyers will capture more of that growth. South Africa’s legal market alone may reach $4.1 billion by 2030, and legal technology is expanding at roughly 11 percent annually across the continent. The areas driving this growth, including fintech regulation, energy project development, and cross-border commercial transactions, are directly relevant to Somalia’s economic development as well. Some pan-African law firms grew their revenue by more than 40 percent in 2024, which suggests there is real demand for lawyers who understand these emerging practice areas.

Somalia’s legal profession is growing too, though from a different starting point. We are simultaneously training new lawyers and writing new laws, which creates both challenges and opportunities. The question of how to balance access to the profession with quality standards is not unique to us. Ghana struggled with it, Kenya has debated it, and every growing legal market eventually confronts it. There is no perfect answer, but watching how other countries handle the tradeoffs can help us make better choices when our turn comes.

Where the Jobs Are

For individual lawyers thinking about their careers, the message from regional trends is fairly clear. Technology law, environmental regulation, and international trade are the practice areas where demand is growing fastest. These are also areas where Somali law is still developing, which means lawyers who build expertise now will be well positioned as new regulations come into force. Ghana’s experience shows that reform works better when you bring people together to discuss it before making decisions. As Somalia develops its own legal education system further, this lesson about process, not just outcomes, is worth remembering.