Law Internship in Ghana

Gain practical legal experience and boost your CV while working at a legal aid centre in Ghana

Destination

Ghana

Age

18+ y/o

Minimum Stay

2 weeks

Start Date

Anytime

Accommodation

Homestay

What’s included

Activities, Training & Equipment

All programme activities and equipment, including training and workshops from experienced professionals.

Meals

All breakfast, lunch, and dinners, and always fresh drinking water.

Socials & Fun

Regularly organized social events with other participants.

Pre-departure Support

Everything you need to prepare for your trip, including visa advice, cultural awareness training, access to your dedicated pre-departure portal, and more.

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Starting at €2,545 for 2 weeks

Flexible 0% Interest payments
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Trip Overview

Get first-hand law experience

Work alongside lawyers in Accra, assisting with administrative tasks, observing court cases, and interacting with clients.

Learn about Ghanaian law

Gain insight into the Ghanaian legal system and human rights challenges, working in an international context to broaden your perspectives.

Explore Ghanaian culture

Live with a caring family, enjoy authentic cuisine, and experience the warm hospitality of the Ghanaian people. You’ll feel like a local in no time!

Discover Ghana

Explore Accra, the sprawling capital city of Accra and its surroundings, experiencing the culture and powerful history of the “Gold Coast.”

Build your transferable skills

Enhance your legal understanding, communicative ability, and problem-solving skills, broadening your perspective and preparing for your career.

What you need to know

Overview

Would you like to gain legal work experience in a developing country? Are you passionate about helping people in need? Then our Law Internship in Ghana is perfect for you.

You’ll learn from experienced lawyers and work alongside paralegals and legal clerks. You can use this experience to boost your CV, and it will give you interesting points to talk about in interviews and applications.

You don’t need previous experience to join this project. We’ll assign work to you based on your skills and experience. Large volumes of work and complex cases are only assigned to interns with relevant skills and experience. The work assigned to you is also dependent on which cases we take on while you’re in Ghana.

This programme runs year-round, with a short two-week break over Christmas and New Year. We recommend staying as long as possible to learn more and work on a larger number of cases. You’ll also return home with more law work experience from your time in Ghana.

Volunteering for professionals

This project is also perfect for qualified professionals. With your skills backing up our ongoing efforts, we can make an even bigger difference together. We’ll match you to the placement where your skills are needed most.

This means you can share your training and knowledge with others. You can work hand-in-hand with our partner organisations and local communities to support sustainable development.

If you have relevant skills or qualifications, read more about how you can make use of them with Projects Abroad.

A Day in the Life

As a Law intern in Ghana, your typical working hours will be 9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday.

You will normally start your mornings in the office at your placement. The first hour or two of the day will be dedicated to helping with legal administration. This may include drafting legal documents and affidavits and conducting legal research.

By late morning, you may either accompany one of the local lawyers to court or interact with clients. The latter may include registering new cases, conducting interviews, or preparing clients for their cases.

You will get an hour and a half break over lunchtime. If your host family lives close by, you could head home to eat and have a short rest. Alternatively, you will be able to enjoy a packed lunch.

Afternoons are normally divided between going to court and continuing with administrative tasks. If you had been to court earlier, you might be expected to prepare some notes for a discussion. If you’ve been working with clients, you would be able to complete filing their most recent case information.

Evenings and weekends are your free time to explore, rest, and relax. Accra has a lively atmosphere and some fabulous restaurants. You can use weekends to adventure slightly further afield. Head out on a hiking trail in the mountains, take a trip to the beach, or visit a nature reserve.

Aims & Impact

The aim of this project is to expand your knowledge about law and give you insight into the judicial system of a developing country.

You will work alongside local lawyers, paralegals and clerks in a professional environment and learn from them. This will add valuable practical experience to your CV, which will help you with your career or postgraduate studies.

This project also has an altruistic goal. In Ghana, getting legal help can be a lengthy and expensive process. This makes it difficult for disadvantaged people to settle disputes and fight for their rights in courts. As a legal intern working at a placement like the Ghana Legal Aid Scheme, you can help these people take their cases further.

You can also support the work we do at the Projects Abroad Human Rights Office in Accra. Here, we deal with a range of issues, from domestic violence to child labour.

Join us as a Law intern in Ghana and kickstart your legal career in a different country.

Activities

As a Law intern in Ghana, you will be working alongside local lawyers, paralegals, and clerks in a professional environment. You can expect to perform some of the following tasks:

Help local lawyers with important administrative legal tasks, such as drafting documents

Observe local legal practitioners as they work with clients and in courts

Assist with cases from our Human Rights Project in Ghana

Work directly with clients to help them prepare for their cases

Your work will focus on these areas:

Administrative tasks

During your Law internship in Ghana, you may encounter a number of administrative legal tasks similar to those found in a law firm in your own country.

These may include:

Registering new applicants
Conducting interviews
Attending court
Draughting legal documents.

Through this work, you will also get an insight into the legal and human rights challenges people face every day in Ghana. One day, you may help out with a child maintenance case and the next with a probate landlord.

Observe local legal professionals at work

When you aren’t busy with administrative tasks, you will be able to attend court and observe live cases. This is a great opportunity to see Ghana’s legal system in action. Since you will be accompanying resident lawyers from the organisation you’ll be working at, you may be expected to take notes. These could be used to refer back to at a later stage, so be thorough!

Interact with clients

The local lawyers you work with may ask you to help with various client meetings. This could include preparing them with information for their upcoming case or interviewing them about their side of the story.

The types of cases dealt with vary depending on your placement, but often include:

Constitutional matters
Probate (wills and inheritance)
Landlord/tenant
Family, custody, child maintenance, and matrimonial disputes
Criminal
Property
Contracts
Employment
Personal injury/negligence

Assisting with the Human Rights Project

In addition to your full-time law placement in Ghana, you could assist our interns in the Human Rights Project. Your legal knowledge and experience will no doubt enhance these projects.

This can include conducting in-house seminars, assisting with office research, or attending one of our advocacy and outreach sessions. You may also assist in training and mediation in more community-based dispute resolution settings.

The availability of this work will depend on our current Human Rights Project, as well as your experience, interests, and personal schedule.

Map & Location

Formerly called The Gold Coast, Ghana became an independent nation in 1957, and the first African country colonised by Europeans to achieve independence under majority rule. Still famed for gold and cocoa production, it’s a treasure trove of cultural and natural experiences.

Explore lush rainforests, cascading waterfalls, and golden beaches or get stuck in to the lively music and dance scene. With a rich mix of languages and traditions, its people are known for their warmth and hospitality.

Accra

Accra, the capital of Ghana, is a lively city on the Atlantic coast with a population of over two million. This sprawling metropolis blends modern skyscrapers with historic landmarks, artisan markets, and beautiful beaches. It has a tropical savannah climate with hot temperatures all year.

Accra is culturally rich, with traditional drumming and dance performances alongside an energetic nightlife and thriving arts scene. More than half of the population is under 24, so it’s never short of excitement!

Akuapem Hills

About 90 minutes north of the capital, Accra, lie the quiet and tropical Akuapem Hills. Known for their lush greenery, cocoa farms, and charming villages with traditional architecture, the hills are a perfect escape from city living.

You’ll never feel more welcomed than in the heart of the Ghanaian countryside and you’ll have access to all the essential amenities. Plus, Accra is well within reach for a day trip if needed!

Food & Accommodation

Immediately feel at home with a supportive and welcoming local host family. We’ve vetted each family to guarantee you get everything you need for a wonderful stay. This includes a comfortable bed, three daily meals, fresh drinking water, and daily transport to and from your placement, arranged by our team.

Your host family’s home will be clean, safe, and secure, and they will welcome you as one of their own from the moment you arrive. Absorb the local culture, enjoy their incredible home-cooked food, and build a lifelong connection during the course of your stay.

You’ll stay with other Projects Abroad participants on your travels. If you share a room, we will match you with someone of the same gender and age. Whether you go it alone or with friends, you’ll have the time of your life.

Your Arrival Made Easy

When you arrive at your respective airport, a member of Projects Abroad staff will be there to meet you. You can find more detailed information on arrival airports, orientation, and visas on our Ghana Arrival Procedures page.