Law firm inaugurates West Africa office in Accra

AB & David, an African law firm, has inaugurated its West African offices in Accra. The inauguration of the office complex is part of the firm’s drive to constantly improving services to clients and expanding its urge as a top-notch legal service provider in investment, trade, business and commercial activities.

The Chief Justice of Ghana, Mrs Georgina Wood, who inaugurated the offices, acknowledged AB & David’s strides in areas that were currently relevant to clients.

She said the practice of law had moved beyond the courtroom and the filling of writs and summons in transaction structuring, public and private partnerships, alternative dispute resolution and project financing.

“Clients are becoming increasingly sophisticated and now demand value for money and want lawyers who understand business,” she pointed out.

Unfortunately, she added, the legal profession had become notoriously averse to change and many lawyers had not realised that their practices needed to adapt to this fast changing environment.

She warned that the days of the “one man practitioners” appeared to be numbered and challenged local firms to look at building a modern legal practice to respond to the needs of local clients.

New pace in legal practice

The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mrs Marrieta Brew Appiah-Oppong, said the AB & David had set a new pace in legal practice in the country and internationally.

She said a new era with new dynamics in legal services had dawned and the firm was meeting the trend with its international practice (beyond Ghana’s borders).

The immediate past President of the Association of Ghana Industries, Nana Owusu Afari, highly commended AB & David’s business culture, which sometimes included pro bono services to businesses and entrepreneurs.

He said AB & David had shown such an immense understanding of the industry that it was elected to the prestigious Economic Advisory Committee of the AGI.

He said the firm had also won twice in a row (in 2011 and 2012), the AGI’s accolade as the Best Business Promotion firm in Ghana.

“For businesses, time is money and businesses appreciate when the lawyer does not use legalese to waste time,” he added.

The Executive Chairman of AB & David, Mr David Ofosu-Dorte, said the changing phase of the firm was in keeping with changing times where clients were made to matter in all the interactions they had with the firm, including visiting the firm’s premises.

A Managing Partner of AB & David, Isabel Boaten, said the firm was strengthening its commercial perspective as well as its African presence, by its remodelled offices and other initiatives.