Chief Executive Officer of Margins ID Group, Mr Moses Baiden, has urged Ghanaian lawyers to embrace artificial intelligence.
Speaking at the 2026/2027 Ghana Bar Association Annual Conference in Accra, Mr Baiden said the legal profession must prepare for the profound changes artificial intelligence will bring to legal practice, judicial administration and access to justice.
The conference is being held on the theme, “150 Years of Ghana’s Legal Evolution: Transforming the Profession and Driving Its Future with Industry.”
Delivering the keynote address, titled “From Quill to Algorithm: 150 Years of Ghana’s Legal Evolution and the Future of the Ghanaian Lawyer,” Mr Baiden noted that the next 20 years could bring more technological transformation than the previous century.
He said the anniversary of Ghana’s legal evolution should not only be an occasion to reflect on the past, but also an opportunity to prepare deliberately for the future.
According to him, artificial intelligence is already changing how lawyers research, review documents, analyse contracts, prepare legal arguments and manage information. However, he stressed that technology would not eliminate the need for professional judgment, accountability and ethical responsibility.
“Artificial intelligence may become an exceptionally fast junior associate, but it will not bear professional responsibility,” he said, urging lawyers to supervise, test and correct AI-generated outputs before relying on them.
Mr Baiden identified four major implications of artificial intelligence for the legal profession. These include changes to the lawyer’s daily work, the transformation of clients and legal institutions, the need for lawyers to acquire new competencies, and the continuing responsibility of lawyers as guardians of law, rights and public trust.
He said the central question for lawyers would increasingly shift from “Can I find the answer?” to “Can I trust this answer?”
Mr Baiden also called on the courts, regulators and legal education institutions to modernise their systems to accommodate digital evidence, emerging technologies and new forms of legal practice.
He noted that technology could improve access to justice by extending legal information and services to farmers, traders, small businesses and underserved communities. However, he cautioned that digitisation must not deepen existing inequalities.
He further encouraged Ghana to develop its own legal technology solutions rather than relying exclusively on imported systems. According to him, legal technologies developed elsewhere may not adequately reflect Ghanaian law, local languages, commercial practices and institutional realities.
Mr Baiden said the future lawyer would need to combine the roles of jurist, technologist, strategist, advocate, lifelong learner and guardian of rights.
Reflecting on the history of legal practice, he observed that the quill, typewriter and physical library had gradually given way to computers, email, cloud platforms and artificial intelligence.
“The quill disappeared. The lawyer remained,” he said, adding that the arrival of the algorithm would not change the fundamental responsibility of the legal profession to serve law, justice and humanity.
