Speaker refers fresh Supreme Court nominees to Appointment Committee

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin has referred two newly nominated Justices of the Supreme Court to the Appointments Committee for consideration.

The two are; Prof. Frimpong Oppong, Legal Scholar, and Justice Sophia Rosseta Bernasko Essah, Justice of the Court of Appeal.

The Judicial Council has meanwhile approved their nomination after their names were submitted by the Chief Justice to the President.

During sittings on Monday, July 22, Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin announced their nomination following a formal communication from the President.

The President noted that the nominations were because of pending and projected vacancies on the Supreme Court, occasioned by the retirement of Justice Nii Ashie Kotey on 2nd October 2023, and the pending retirement of Justice Mariama Owusu on 18th November 2024. 

PROFILES

Professor Richard Frimpong Oppong

He joined the faculty at Osgoode Hall Law School in 2024. He has taught in the USA and UK and at Thompson Rivers University. He completed his PhD at the University of British Columbia and Post-doctoral studies at the Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University. 

He holds a Master of Laws degree from Harvard Law School, a first-class Master of Laws degree in Commercial Law from the University of Cambridge, and a first-class Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Ghana. 

He was called to the Ghana Bar in October 2003 after completing the professional law course at the Ghana School of Law with distinction. He received the John Mensah Sarbah Certificate of Honour and the Charles Mensah-Cann Memorial Prize awarded to the best-graduating student there.

Professor Oppong is a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists, and an Associate Member of the International Academy of Comparative Law. He was a member of the Working Group of The Hague Conference on Private International Law that drafted The Hague Principles on Choice of Law in International Commercial Contracts, 2015. 

The Curatorium of The Hague Academy of International Law has selected him to deliver a special Course, comprising five magisterial lectures, during the private international law session in the summer of 2026. Before this, he served as the Director of Studies at The Hague Academy of International Law during the private international law session in the summer of 2012. He is the Program Advisor to the Tanzanian-German Centre for Eastern African Legal Studies which offers LLM and PhD programs on East African integration.

Professor Oppong maintains research and teaching interests in private international law, international arbitration, contract law, domestic and international sale of goods law, and regional trade and economic integration in Africa. He has published widely and made outstanding contributions to advancing the law with his scholarship. He has published eight books (comprising four sole-authored books, two co-authored books and two co-edited books) and over 55 articles, book chapters, and book reviews.

Professor Oppong’s internationally excellent research outputs have been variously described by independent reviewers in book reviews as “tackling a major problem of long-term interest”; “offering innovative insights”; “a remarkable tour de force”; “ambitious and methodologically executed”; “clear and authoritative”; “instructive, illuminating, lucid, thoroughly researched”; “clear, accessible, informed and informative”; and as of “practical value” and of “exceptional quality”. 

Two of his publications have won international awards: the 2013 American Society of International Law Prize in Private International Law and the 2014 James Crawford Prize of the Journal of International Dispute Settlement. In 2011, he was nominated for the prestigious Hessel Yntema Prize of the American Journal of Comparative Law. Some of his books and journal articles have been translated into French and Chinese. He is frequently cited in academic publications and judicial decisions.

Professor Oppong has been invited to peer-reviewed articles and books for more than 20 journals and publishers. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Yearbook of Private International Law and the Journal of Private International Law. He is an Assistant Editor of the Global Journal of Comparative Law.

Justice Sophia Rosseta Bernasko Essah

Justice Bernasko Essah earned her first degree, an LLB, from the University of Ghana in 1988 and a Professional Law Certificate, BL, from the Ghana School of Law in October 1990. In 1997, she received the prestigious Chevening Scholarship, allowing her to pursue a Master of Laws (LLM) at the renowned University of Warwick in Coventry, UK. 

During her time at Warwick, she focused on various aspects of International Economic Law, including Legal Aspects of Investments and Transnational Corporations, International Banking and Securities Regulations, and International Corporate Finance.

In 2016, Justice Bernasko Essah enrolled in the Executive Master of Arts degree program in Conflict, Peace, and Security at the Kofi Annan International Peace Training Center in Accra. Here, she studied International Law, Human Rights and Conflict, National Security Framework, Security Sector & Multi-Dimensional Peace Support Operations, Contemporary and Emerging Security Issues, Theories and Analysis of Conflict Peace and Security, Governance and Leadership in Africa, Good Governance and Democratic Practice in Africa, International Relations, and Post Conflict Reconstruction and Development in Africa.

She is an alumna of Wesley Girls High School, Cape Coast, where she obtained her Ordinary and Advanced Level Certificates in 1982 and 1984, respectively.

Justice Bernasko Essah's extensive judicial and legal career, combined with her unwavering dedication to public service, began in 1992 when she joined the Civil Division of the Attorney General's office as an Assistant State Attorney. She advanced to the position of State Attorney before transitioning to the public corporate legal sector in 2000.

She served as Senior Legal Counsel at the Volta River Authority for four years, a statutory corporation that was the sole power generator in Ghana at the time. In 2004, she joined the Tema Oil Refinery as a Legal Services Manager and, in 2007, became the Company Solicitor and Secretary to the Board of Directors.

On December 17, 2019, Justice Sophia Rosetta Bernasko Essah was appointed a Justice of the Court of Appeal. Before this, starting in July 2011, she served as a Justice of the High Court, working in both the Commercial and General Jurisdiction Divisions.