Advancing Legal Education in West Africa

UC Law SF faculty members spent a week at the University of Professional Studies, Accra Law School in December 2023 as part of a grant project funded by the U.S. Embassy in Ghana. They gave presentations, legal trainings, and classroom lectures on plea bargaining, trade secrets, and other topics. Pictured from left to right are project management consultant Ebenezer Abong-Akrofi, Alameda County Senior Assistant District Attorney Demarris Evans, UC Law SF Professor of Practice Jessica Vapnek, UPSA Law Dean Kofi Abotsi, and UC Law SF Clinical Professor Mai Linh Spencer.

In the 2023-2024 academic year, the International Development Law Center and UC Law SF community worked with partner law schools and faculty members to enhance legal education programs in West Africa. The collaborative work was made possible by grant funding from U.S. embassies in Ghana and Nigeria.

Ghana

The center and UC Law SF community continued implementing a University Partnership Initiative grant from the U.S. Embassy in Ghana in 2023-2024. The program, which started in fall 2022 and ended in May 2024, aimed to strengthen ties between UC Law SF and its partner in Ghana, the University of Professional Studies, Accra Law School (UPSA Law).

In September 2023, the center hosted two members of the UPSA Law faculty in San Francisco: Professors Gertrude Amarh and Eugene Oninku. During their stay, they observed classes and seminars, including Civil Procedure, Financial Basics for Lawyers, and the Mediation Clinic. Professors Amarh and Oninku also visited the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, where they observed oral argument. Our guests were welcomed and accompanied in meetings and events by representatives of UC Law SF, including Chancellor & Dean David Faigman, Academic Dean & Provost Morris Ratner, Faculty Director of the International Development Law Center Professor Jessica Vapnek, Associate Dean of Global Programs Binyamin Blum, and Associate Dean of Experiential Learning Professor Gail Silverstein.

UC Law SF Associate Dean for Experiential Learning and Clinical Professor of Law Gail Silverstein (bottom row, third from left) attended a student training at UPSA in October 2023.

Several UC Law SF faculty and affiliated experts also traveled to Ghana. In October, Associate Dean for Experiential Learning Gail Silverstein spent a week at UPSA Law to celebrate the launch of UPSA Law’s first legal clinic. UC Law SF supported the UPSA Law faculty as they developed training materials and planned the clinic launch. Representatives of the U.S. Embassy in Ghana also attended the event.

Subsequently, Professor of Practice Jessica Vapnek, Clinical Professor Mai Linh Spencer, Senior Assistant District Attorney Demarris Evans of the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, and UC Law SF Graduate Fellow and Intellectual Property Law expert Claudia Cantarella spent a week at UPSA Law’s campus in December 2023. They gave presentations, legal trainings, and classroom lectures on topics such as grant seeking and management, plea bargaining and restorative justice, legislative drafting, and trade secrets and confidentiality. Each U.S. speaker was paired with a Ghanaian speaker, to put the American presentations in context. The lectures, trainings, and presentations were attended by students, faculty members and professors of UPSA Law, along with representatives of the U.S. Embassy. Throughout the week, the UC Law SF visitors were accompanied by members of the UPSA Law faculty, including Dean Kofi Abotsi and Vice Dean Francisca Kusi-Appiah. Highlights of the trip included visits to Nsawam Prison and Wisconsin International University’s law school campus.

In March 2024, UC Law SF hosted two more guests from UPSA Law: Constitutional Law Professor and Dean Kofi Abotsi and Energy Law Professor Albert Quashigah. During their stay they observed several classes and clinics, and also spent a day at University of San Francisco School of Law. Along with the Kosovar visitors in San Francisco at the same time, the Ghanaian visitors presented at Professor Dana Zartner’s Comparative Law class and visited the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

In spring 2024, Professor Heather Field and USF Law Professor Alice Kaswan visited UPSA Law’s campus in Accra. Professor Field gave a course on taxes and financial basics for lawyers, whereas Professor Kaswan shared her experience in Environmental Law and served on a Climate Change Panel in connection with Law Fair Day on the UPSA campus.

Nigeria

The UC Law SF community and International Law Development Center were delighted to receive a grant from the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria this year, to support the project “Strengthening Ties Between Legal Education Institutions in Nigeria and the United States.”

This grant aims to build ties and connections with the University of Abuja and Nasarawa State University and UC Law SF. This project launched on April 1, 2024 and will run for 12 months. UC Law SF will share expertise by delivering short courses in subject areas of interest to its Nigerian partner universities. The College will also offer Training of Trainers (TOT) programs to willing faculty members to strengthen active learning techniques. Finally, the project aims to strengthen clinical legal education at the partner law schools by assessing existing legal clinics and identifying opportunities for new and additional clinics in the curriculum. In September 2024, UC Law SF hosted the deans of the two partner law schools, along with visiting faculty member Victor Ayeni of Adekunle Ajasin University. Prof. Ayeni is an expert in African human rights, disability rights, and LGBQTI+ rights.