The office, aside undertaking litigation for clients, will also engage in legal reforms, capacity building, advocacy and research. Mr Mark Ofori-Amanfo, Managing Director of LADA, who spoke during the opening of the office in Tamale, said the firm would increase beyond 10 per cent the number of cases it handled as legal aid to assist the vulnerable to seek justice.

LADA has been in operation in the country since 2006 and it provides unique services in the area of research, consultative strategies, training, legislative reform, facilitation of regulatory processes and advocacy, as well as legal counselling and representation for mostly pro bono clients.

Professor Raymond Atuguba, Managing Partner at A&A said the opening of the office was also “To assist with new ideas, forging a link between law and development for establishing, articulating and operationalising the ways in which law can be used to promote development in the three regions.”

Professor Atuguba, who is also Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, said “At LADA, we do not focus on what law seeks to prevent but rather what law should promote.”  He expressed hope that “As LADA moves next year into mastering technology so that law may be used to liberate people, we envisage a day, very near in the future, when persons in Accra, will seek legal advice from astute, well-groomed lawyers and development practitioners in Tamale.”

He was not happy that the country’s laws were not translated into local languages saying, translating the laws into local languages would promote and develop pride in the indigenous languages.

Kumbunnaa Yiri (II), Naa Alhaji Iddrisu Abu, Paramount Chief of Kumbungu Traditional Area spoke about the operations of the firm in the areas of governance, human rights and public policy commending it for contributing to the development of a number of constitutions, policies, laws, and regulations on the continent.

He said the opening of the Tamale office was welcome news as it would not only lead to improvement in quality but quantity of legal services and justice delivery in the northern part of the country.