Drivers of change in the legal profession and legal education - Africa focus

Caliis Badoo is a Lawyer, a Chartered Banker and a Notary Public admitted to practice in Ghana. He has over twenty (20) years’ experience in teaching and practicing Corporate & Business Law with over 13 years in Securities Regulation and Enforcement experience with the Securities & Exchange Commission of Ghana. His key strengths include fine research and analytical skills, excellent communication and human relations, a great team worker with a bent for academia. He has very valuable experience in cross border and trade related issues having served and still serving as a member of the Technical Committee of the West Africa Securities Regulatory Association (WASRA) which seeks to provide oversight on cross border capital issues for the development of the subregion. WASRA has applied to become an appendage of ECOWAS under Article 53 of the ECOWAS Revised Treaty. He is also currently a Lecturer/Facilitator for the Legal & Regulatory Framework module of the Ghana Securities and Investment Institute (GISI) course designed for capital market professionals. He combines effective corporate and business law practice with teaching same. He has excellent drafting skills with a bias for commercial agreements. Currently, he is a Director and heads the Legal & Enforcement Department of the Securities & Exchange Commission, Ghana as Chief Manager having previously worked as Board Secretary, Secretary to the Approvals and Licensing Committee and Deputy Chief Manager, Senior Manager in the same Department. Prior to that he worked as an Attorney in two law firms in Ghana representing clients in court and providing them with professional legal advice on corporate and commercial matters. At all times during he career, he has remained a part-time lecturer. He has attended a number of training programmes with Harvard Law School, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (US SEC), the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) amongst others. He is a member of the IBA Capital Markets Forum, Securities Law Committee and the Immigration and Nationality Committee. He is also a member of IOSCO AMERC Working Group on Market Development. He has held the positions of Conference Coordinator (Jan. 2015 - Dec. 2016), Officer (Jan. 2017 - Dec. 2018), Conference Coordinator (Jan. 2019 - Dec. 2020) Secretary-Treasurer (Jan. 2020 - Dec. 2020), Vice Chair (Jan. 2021 - Dec. 2022) and now Chair of the African Regional Forum (ARF). He is currently an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) Faculty of Law teaching the Master of Laws (LLM) course in the Regulation of Financial Markets. Caliis holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) Hons, B.L, MBA (Finance), ACIB, LLM (Financial Markets & Regulation). He is a Notary Public admitted to practice in Ghana.

Fernando Pelez-Pier Mexican by birth and Venezuelan is qualified as Mexican and Venezuelan lawyer. During his legal carrer he practiced in Mexico, Paris and London and joined Hoet Peláez Castillo & Duque in Caracas on 1977. He was an active participant in the development of the corporate area in the Firm and contributed to its strategic management until his retirement as founding partner. Fernando is also a recognized member of the international legal community. He is one of the pioneers of advocacy’s global projection around the world, being Chair of Lex Mundi (1992-1993), Founder and Chair of the Latin American Regional Forum of the International Bar Association (IBA) (1994-1998). Fernando was President of the IBA (2009-2010), Vice President (2007-2008), Secretary General (2005-2006), Chair of the IBA’s Section on Business Law (SBL) (2002-2004), SBL Vice Chair (2000-2002), and SBL Secretary Treasurer (1998-2000). He is currently member of the IBA Council and LPD Council. Fernando has been active in different projects and initiatives within the IBA related to the future of the legal profession. Since his retirement as founding and managing partner of his firm, Fernando has been active as consultant on issues related to the management of professional service firms with special focus on law firms. Since 2015, he became involved in LexLatin and is currently the CEO and the Editor of his specialized newsletter on Managment of law firms. LexLatin is nowadays the strategic partner for Latin-American law firms for positioning through the generation of content the corporate brand of the firm and the personal brand of the partners and associates. LexLatin is also the strategic partner for professional training and education on new skills and abilities required by the legal eco system.

Professor Ernest Kofi Abotsi is the Dean of the UPSA Law School and an associate professor of comparative constitutional law and international law. Prior to his appointment, he was the immediate past Dean of the GIMPA Law School-a position he held for six (6) years. Dean Abotsi is also a practicing lawyer, a public intellectual, a member of the Ghanaian Bar, and also the chairman of the Ghana Forum of the Africa Bar Association. Dean Abotsi holds a Bachelor of Laws Degree and Barrister-at-Law Certificate from the University of Ghana and the Ghana School of Law respectively, as well as a Master of Laws Degree from the Harvard Law School, and a Doctorate in Constitutional and international Law from the University of Milan, Italy. He is widely consulted by leading Ministries and constitutional bodies in Ghana. In addition, Dean Abotsi has been a visiting scholar and guest lecturer in leading European and American universities including Oxford University, Fordham Law School, Indiana Law School and the University of Milan, Biccoca, Italy. Dean Abotsi has served on constitutional commissions and advised on reforms of the 1992 Ghanaian Constitution as well as the structural reforms and operations of key ministries and agencies of state. In addition to the above, Dean Abotsi has served on a number of boards and advisory councils and played pivotal roles in shaping the policy directions of corporate entities in Ghana including currently being the chairman of the advisory board of the Chief Executives Network of Ghana, (a body comprising the CEOs of some of the largest and notable corporations in Ghana). He has written extensively in leading peer review journals of law in the world and a text book on Ghanaian constitutional law. In the field of legal practice, he is a lawyer of with a more than two decades standing at the Ghanaian Bar. Given his niche expertise in constitutional and administrative law, he has consulted for a number of state-owned enterprises involved in the generation and distribution of electricity as well as regulatory bodies as well exploration and production of oil and gas and petroleum products. He is an honorary fellow of the Institute of Directors, a member of the Ghana Bar Association and Rotary International.

Franklina Gesila Adanu is a qualified lawyer, a Notary Public, a certified Insolvency Practitioner in Ghana and an ADR ODR International accredited Civil/Commercial Mediator. She is currently the Counsel to the General Legal Council and its Disciplinary Committee. Prior to this, she served as the Registrar of the Ghana School of Law. She also served as the Head of Legal Services at Universal Merchant Bank (formerly, Merchant Bank (Ghana) Limited). Franklina has a wealth of experience in private practice. She has advised a wide-range of clients in many areas including banking, labour and insolvency law. Franklina holds an LL.B (Hons.) and an Executive Master of Business Administration. (EMBA) in Human Resource Management from the University of Ghana, Legon. She also holds an LLM in Corporate and Insolvency Law from the Nottingham Law School; Nottingham Trent University, England and a certificate in Leadership Principles from Harvard Business School. Franklina has been a member of the Ghana Bar since October 2003.