Law firms asked to assist businesses

Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood has challenged local law firms to specialize in the provision of legal services to businesses in order to support the country’s economic growth.

Speaking at the commissioning of a new ultra-modern West Africa Head office of AB and David, a business legal firm in Accra, she expressed dissatisfaction with the inability of local law firms to provide prompt legal services to businesses in the country.

Georgina Wood said the country’s economy requires lawyers with deep understanding of corporate issues.

Such lawyers, she said, stand the chance of being more productive and competitive in these difficult times.

Georgina Wood said Ghana has joined the list of countries that uses Public Private Partnerships (PPP) as a catalyst to achieve rapid economic growth and infrastructure development.

In view that, she said the services of qualified legal personnel are pertinent to any successful Public Private Partnerships (PPP) regime.

Georgina Wood said the practice of law had moved beyond the courtroom and the filing of writs of summons, and the changing times demand the introduction of a special practice of law.

Clients are becoming increasingly sophisticated and demand value for money and are therefore looking for lawyers who understand business, she said. “Clients not only expect their legal advisors to have an in-depth knowledge of their industry and business,” Georgina Wood said.

The increasing importance of arbitration and dispute resolution in the African context is a reflection of the global growth in international business, she said.

Goergina Wood commended AB and David for setting the pace as one of the very few Ghanaian law firms that operate with high international standards, urging other law firms to emulate it in order to raise the image of the legal profession and practice in Ghana.

David Ofosu-Dorte, Executive Chairman of AB and David, promised to continue to provide quality services to its clients across the sub-region.

He said the company was focusing on expanding to West African countries to provide legal services to businesses and governments.