Our lawyers are solicitors and barristers who were mainly trained in Ghana and the United Kingdom. Lawyers, experts and staff members of Africa Legal Associates maintain the highest ethical standards and put the firm’s interests ahead of individual agendas and the client’s satisfaction above all.

ALA’s integrated approach to servicing clients’ needs comes from the wealth of career experience of the reputable men and women who have built the firm and/or work with the firm. We recruit and keep excellent staff by ensuring great opportunities for career growth in a motivational environment of shared responsibility and shared rewards.

Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko

Senior Partner

Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko is one of the leading transactional lawyers in the country. He has a knack for getting things done, finding solutions, no matter the issue. He brings to ALA his vast, rich and dynamic experience over the last three decades working in Europe and Africa. A solicitor and barrister trained in UK and Ghana, Mr Otchere-Darko is more than an accomplished corporate lawyer. He is the former CEO of a UK-based consulting company, which specialized in facilitating business for companies and organizations with interest in Africa. A former journalist, with a background in development economics, and founder of a public policy think tank, Mr Otchere-Darko is one of the respected lawyers and political risk analysts in Africa and has appeared on television and radio and written several articles in several reputable journals on issues such as investment, corporate governance, good governance, and economic development in Africa and related matters. ALA benefits from his rich network of contacts in Ghana, the West African region and beyond.

Nana Adjoa Hackman

Managing Partner

Nana Adjoa was called to the Ghana Bar in October 2003, when she began private legal practice at the law firm, Kudjawu & Co. She was until August 2016 the Head of Legal Department and Company Secretary for United Bank for Africa (Ghana) Limited. She is a corporate legal practitioner specializing in corporate governance, banking and petroleum law and has provided consultancy on many corporate issues. In 2009, Nana Adjoa obtained an LLM degree with distinction from the Centre for Energy Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy (CEPMLP), University of Dundee, Scotland. She has researched and published several articles on the petroleum industry. Between the years 2011 and 2014, she was involved in the organization of Ghana’s Gas Forum, an annual conference held in Accra and hosting experts in the oil and gas industry from around the world. She also has an intelligence background and advises on matters to do with security.

She is a member of the Ghana Bar Association, the Society for Petroleum Engineers and the Energy Institute. She is also a member of the Board of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation.

Nii Odotei

Partner

Originally trained as a Barrister in England & Wales, Nii Odotei has both English and Ghanaian qualifications. Nii spent thirteen and a half years in Fugar & Co. one of Ghana’s leading corporate law firms, almost seven years of which was as a Partner. Nii brings to ALA a practice comprising contentious and noncontentious work covering project finance, joint ventures, corporate acquisitions and buyouts, corporate finance and more recently power and upstream oil and gas work. His firm grasp and understanding of English law concepts and principles has made him a favourite in advising both international law firms and foreign investors in Ghana. “Peers concede that he knows the local legislation inside out and clients describe him as an incredibly practical lawyer who gets transactions done diligently and efficiently”.

He has advised on some flagship transactions including the project financing of the “operator’ of Ghana’s first oilfield to go into commercial production and recently the project financing of a ‘non-operator’ in the Offshore Cape Three Points oilfield. Nii’s desire to offer something extra to his clients has driven him to become an alumnus of the SEED entrepreneurship programme of the Stanford Business School and membership of the Institute of Directors (UK) and Institute of Directors (Southern Africa).

Narinder Surae

International Transactions’ Advisor

Narinder is a senior corporate lawyer advising on various aspects of corporate law, including on cross-border M&A, private equity, joint venture and equity capital markets transactions. Narinder acts for international banks, financial institutions, private equity firms and corporates. Narinder worked at White & Case’s London office from January 2013 to June 2015 when she relocated to White & Case’s Johannesburg office to focus on corporate and M&A transactions in Africa until December 2017.

Before joining White & Case in January 2013, Narinder worked in the London office of Norton Rose Fulbright for six years, where she also focused on international corporate and M&A matters. Narinder joined ALA in 2018 as International Transaction Advisor.

Ernest Kusi

Senior Associate

Ernest brings to bear on the practice of the firm a rich legal practice background and a clear sense of direction and responsiveness to the needs of the firm’s clients. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) Degree in Political Science with Philosophy from the University of Ghana, Legon and an MSc in International Relations from Royal Holloway, University of London. He obtained his Bachelor of Laws (LL. B) degree from the University of Ghana, Legon in June 2010, and was called to the Bar in 2012 on completion of the Professional Law Course at the Ghana School of Law in June 2012.

He subsequently studied for the Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) degree programme from October 2012 to June 2013, at the University of Oxford, where he focused on International Dispute Settlement, International Economic Law, Constitutional Theory and International Law and Armed Conflicts. His areas of interest in commercial practice include Commercial Litigation, Arbitration, Corporate Law, and Oil and Gas transactions. He previously practiced at Kulendi@Law, a leading commercial and litigation law firm based in Accra, Ghana from the period of September 2013 to September 2017. He further undertook an internship at Kimathi & Partners between August 2010 and July 2011. His interests include football, music and photography. He is an ardent supporter of Real Madrid Football Club.

Ebow Brew-Hammond

Senior Associate

Ebow Brew-Hammond graduated from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) with an LLB degree. He has been in private legal practice since graduating from the Ghana Law School in 2012. He has gained a wealth of experience in matters involving corporate immigration, and project finance in the areas of construction and energy. His area of interest and concentration however, is that of commercial transactions. Ebow has firm grounding in litigation as he has been entrusted with court briefs spanning issues of company law, land law, debt recovery, contract law, and criminal law amongst others. Having completed his bachelor’s degree in law, Ebow undertook a three-month internship in Shanghai, China, with Zhonglun W&D law firm and gained valuable experience familiarising himself with the Chinese business and legal environment. Ebow is usually a crucial member of the teams he works with as his enthusiasm, attention to detail and positive disposition to hard work contributes exceptionally towards the teams’ achievement of its objectives.

Mansa Williams

Associate Lawyer

Mansa graduated from the University of Warwick in 2006 with an LLB degree, with honours. She then undertook the Legal Practice Course at The College of Law in London (currently University of law) in 2007 and graduated with a Post-graduate Diploma in Law. Mansa holds an LLM degree from the University College London, where she studied Banking and Insurance Law, World Trade and International Human Rights. Mansa worked as a solicitor for six years in several practice in the United Kingdom, including family law, residential & commercial property transactions, litigation, immigration, mental health law and probate matters. Mansa did a short internship at White & Case in London in 2016 where she received training in areas such as project financing, equity & debt financing, project financing and LNG transactions. She undertakes a broad range of corporate and commercial work at ALA. She was called to the Ghana Bar in 2016 and is also qualified as a Solicitor in England and Wales.

Edem Kutsienyo

Associate Lawyer

Edem brings a different approach to the practice of law. Clients commend his ability to reduce issues down to their simplest form and finding solutions to such issues. He holds a degree in Chemistry from the University of Ghana, Legon in addition to his law degree from the University of Science and Technology in Ghana. Prior to joining Africa Legal Associates, Edem participated in several transactions in his previous firm including advising the Emirates National Oil Company, African Development Bank and Danone. His last major transaction was advising a global development bank on the financing of a public private partnership reforestation project between the Government of Ghana and a European entity. Edem is an ardent believer in giving back to society and thus as a law student founded the charity wing of the Students’ Representative Council of the Ghana Law School, which pays for surgical procedures for underprivileged and indigent children at the Paediatric Surgery Department of the Korle – Bu Teaching Hospital in the Republic of Ghana. He currently volunteers for the Juvenile Justice Project (JJP) where he provides legal services for juveniles who have fallen foul of the law on a pro – bono basis.

Herbert Krapa

Associate Lawyer

Herbert is a lawyer with a Bachelor of Law Degree from the University of Ghana and a Master of Laws from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he studied international finance, debt restructuring, international commercial arbitration and corporate crime. He is a member of the Programme for African Leadership, London, founding member of Noble Law Group, Ghana, and a founding fellow of a major policy think tank in Ghana. Herbert is a prolific writer with a host of publications on law and governance to his credit.

Osei Tutu Bonsu

Associate Lawyer

Osei Tutu obtained his Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of Ghana and is called to the bar in Ghana. Prior to his legal education, Osei obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Settlement Planning from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. Osei has worked at the Legal Department of United Bank for Africa (Ghana) Limited (UBA) where he gained relevant working experience in the law of Banking and Finance. After graduating from the Ghana School of Law, he has attained sufficient proficiency in private legal practice at Africa Legal Associates. Osei undertakes a broad range of corporate and commercial work.

He is a ‘‘master’’ in setting up business for local and international clients. Osei through this experience has also developed a very broad understanding on the Ghanaian regulatory and compliance sector particularly foreign direct investment as well as oil and gas. His practice areas include but are not limited to Oil and Gas transactions, land transactions, banking and finance. He epitomizes ALA’s motto “We Get it Done!”