Chief Justice Paul Kwadwo Baffoe-Bonnie has warned newly called lawyers that the greatest threat to their careers lies in small, quiet compromises rather than dramatic ethical crises.
He delivered the warning at the 2026 call to the Bar on Friday, October 9, 2026, organised by the General Legal Council at the ICGC Christ Temple on Teshie Bush Road in Accra.
Addressing the largest class ever enrolled, Justice Baffoe-Bonnie urged the new lawyers to build their practice on integrity, diligence, respect for the court, honesty with clients and discipline in personal life. He also cautioned them against misusing the influence the profession confers.
“In the law, integrity is cumulative. It is built or broken one small decision at a time. Once it is gone, it is very hard to restore.”
Chief Justice Paul Kwadwo Baffoe-Bonnie
Justice Baffoe-Bonnie opened his list of cautions with a firm instruction to “guard your integrity jealously.” He explained that danger seldom arrives as a dramatic crisis. It creeps in through a date quietly adjusted, a fact presented a little differently or a convenient omission that feels harmless at the time.
Those moments, he stated, are when character is tested and often lost. “Never fool yourself into thinking integrity only matters in the big things.” He added that reputation arrives before the lawyer does. “Your reputation will travel ahead of you long before your arguments ever do,” he stated, and judges, colleagues, and clients will all sense it.
Power Is a Responsibility, Not a Privilege
The Chief Justice told the new lawyers that they are entering a profession of power. A lawyer can affect a person’s liberty, protect property, shape commercial transactions, influence public policy and challenge the exercise of state power. He stated: “Power is never merely a privilege. It is a responsibility imposed upon the person who holds it.”
The law grants influence so that lawyers may become useful, he explained, not so that they may become important. He applied the same standard to public speech. Messages cross the country on WhatsApp before anyone asks whether they are true, he noted, and lawyers must behave differently.
They must pause, check, verify and cross-check before speaking, and sometimes silence is more professional than comment. He added that saying “I do not know” can take more courage than pretending otherwise.
Diligence and Respect for the Court
The Chief Justice turned to preparation. Clients place their liberty, property, reputation and sometimes their peace of mind in a lawyer’s hands, he explained, and carelessness earns no excuse. He observed: “Many lawyers fail not because they lack intelligence, but because they lack discipline.”
He told the new lawyers that they are now officers of the courts, and he described that status as a real responsibility rather than a ceremonial title. Lawyers should stay courteous when they disagree and measured when provoked, he urged.
He drew a line between firmness and arrogance and between aggression and effective advocacy. “The best lawyers are not the loudest,” he declared.
Honesty With Clients and Professional Ethics
Justice Baffoe-Bonnie warned against telling clients only what they want to hear. He stated: “Do not guarantee outcomes you cannot control.” He added a second instruction: “Do not create expectations you cannot meet.”
He also drew a boundary around the lawyer’s loyalty. A lawyer should “represent your client faithfully, but do not allow your client to become the author of your professional ethics.”
The pressure to keep a client, he cautioned, must never erode a lawyer’s honesty. A client may be disappointed by the truth, he suggested, but will respect a lawyer who tells difficult truths.
Discipline and Temptation Beyond the Courtroom
The Chief Justice closed his cautions with a call for discipline in private life. The law will take as much of a lawyer’s time and energy as the lawyer allows, he warned, so new practitioners must be measured in conduct, prudent in associations and careful with finances.
“Many promising careers have not ended in the courtroom,” he observed. “They have ended in excesses.” He listed the temptations ahead as small at first and larger later, among them cutting corners, bending rules and putting convenience ahead of conscience.
He urged the lawyers to resist them early and to live within their means while they build a reputation with patience. If they hold to integrity, diligence, respect, honesty and discipline, he assured them, they will not only succeed in the law but dignify it. He asked them to make him proud by becoming lawyers whose word can be trusted.
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