Dr. Alfred Kofi Ampadu Fofie is a seasoned lawyer trained in the Ghanaian and Anglo-American legal systems and traditions, with varied breath of legal
expertise and over 40 years of continuous legal practice experience in the domestic and international arenas. He holds a JSD (doctorate) degree (1994))
and an LLM degree (International Legal Studies, 1988), both from New York University Law School, USA. He possesses another LL.M degree (1974 - major fields - law
of contract, international law and problems of law in Africa) and an LLB degree (1971), both from the University of Ghana as well as a certificate in Conflict
Management and Resolution earned from the African Centre for Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD – 2006) S.A. He is admitted to the Ghana bar (1974),
New York and Connecticut states bars, (1988), and certified to practice before the Federal Courts of Eastern and Southern Districts of New York (1988), and
the U. S. Court of International Trade, New York (1988).
Dr. Fofie’ legal work experience spans over 40 years as a practicing attorney in the United States and Ghana, international civil service in the United Nations, and international
multilateral peace-keeping-building operations in conflict and post-conflict settings in the Balkans (Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Croatia, Middle East (Lebanon and Israel (1996-2003)),
Africa (Liberia 2003-2007), Morocco (2015), and as an international development field practitioner and governance lawyer, with a successful record of hands-on leadership experience
involving operational, administrative and financial management and implementation oversight of donor-funded rule of law and security-related projects, having served, for instance,
over 10 years in leadership positions as Director of the Legal and Judicial Support System Division, a key rule of law pillar of the peacekeeping Mission to Liberia (2004-2007),
senior legal and technical adviser in other UN peacekeeping Missions in the Balkans and the Middle East, Chief of Team and Chief of Party, respectively, of security governance
projects in Liberia - the Mitigating Local Disputes in Liberia Program funded by the State Department of the US Government (2011- 2015), and Countering Violent
Extremism through Community-Oriented Policing Activity program in Morocco, a USAID-funded project.
His international civil service experience also includes 10 years of service as a minerals / mining legal adviser in the secretariat (Jamaica) of the
International Bauxite Association, an inter-governmental organization of 11 minerals and metals (bauxite /alumina / aluminum) producing–exporting countries,
including Ghana. He analyzed and advised on the institutional, legal and t regulatory framework for investment and exploitation of bauxite resources, monitored and
evaluated international legal, policy and institutional developments in the exploitation of other natural resources world-wide, assisted in the negotiations of
investment and trade agreements between member countries and transnational corporations, and served as Rapporteur at meetings of the Council of Ministers of
member countries and sessions of the Executive Board of the Organization (1976-1986).
Dr. Ampadu Fofie has served in academia as law lecturer and law faculty administrator. Prior to taking up his present position as Dean of Greenfield College, Faculty of Law,
he was a Visiting Scholar and Head of Department of the law faculty at the Kumasi Campus of Wisconsin International University College, Ghana (2021-2023). He was an adjunct
professor of international economic law, NYU School of Continuing Education, USA (1994-1996), adjunct professor of Global Affairs Studies, Berkley College, NY,
USA (2011-2012), lecturer, Business and Commercial laws, Essex County College, New Jersey, USA (1992-1994), and Teaching Assistant, Faculty of Law, University of Ghana
(1971-1973).
Besides work in academia, he has served for many years as a field subject-matter expert, resource person and lecturer at UN conferences and other international
seminars and training workshops on diverse subjects and issue areas, such as: UN Targeted Sanctions regimes, at a colloquium of some 40 experts and participants
including 15 UN Security Council members hosted by the Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University, USA (2004); Justice sector reform and the rule
of law in rebuilding post - conflict societies, EU Specialization Training Course on Rule of Law, Berlin, Germany, organized by ZIF and Folke Bernadotte Academy,
Sweden, for prospective rule of law personnel (judges, prosecutors, legal advisors, prison administrators etc.) tagged for future deployment to UN, EU, OSCE field
missions and international peace operations (2004); Justice systems and transitional justice mechanisms in post conflict states, workshop on rule of law tools for
post-conflict states, held by the Office of OHCHR, Geneva, and assisted in drafting an operational manual on Guidelines for Vetting of Public Officials (2004);
workshop on capacity building on treaty law and practice and the domestic implementation of treaty obligations, held in Liberia by the Treaty Section, Office of
Legal Affairs, UN Headquarters, NY (2006); symposium on Constitution-Making, Ratification, Domestication and Implementation of International Instruments in
Sub-Saharan Africa, organized by Konrad Adenauer - Stiftung Foundation's Rule of Law Program for Sub-Saharan Africa, with participants (chief justices, judges,
private and government constitutional and legal affairs lawyers, legislators, members of regional and national bar and bench associations, representatives from
civil society organizations, media and academia drawn from 15 sub-Saharan African countries), held in Rustenburg, South Africa (2007); Dialogue on Liberia’s
Security System Reform, held Liberia by the Ministry of Justice, UN Mission, Conflict and Development Group, King’s College, UK, Center for Democracy and
Development, Nigeria, and Geneva Center for Democratic Control of Armed Forces, Switzerland (2005); senior management leaders course for military, civilian police,
and civilian personnel from UN member countries, hosted by the African Union in Karen, Kenya (2007).
Dr. Ampadu Fofie’s work experience, expertise and advocacy cover cross - cutting areas of law and economic development,
he advocates the need for a trained corpus of dedicated quality lawyers to participate in government work to help devise superior legal instruments,
institutional, legislative and regulatory frameworks to support economic development. Dr. Fofie drafted, as a consultant (on referral), Ghana Government’s
Master Draft Franchise Framework Agreement consisting of three options for franchising the operations and management of Business Resource Centers (BRCs) by the
private sector in a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) collaboration whereby the expertise of the private sector would be harnessed to provide services and support
required by Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in BRCs to help accelerate the pace of industrial development in the rural areas, a key feature of the Government’s
ten-point Industrial Transformation Agenda led by the Ministry of Trade and Industry under the Government’s Rural Enterprises Program to be steered by the Ghana
Enterprises Agency and the Ministry (2022). His expertise and advocacy also extend to areas of negotiating and drafting / structuring foreign investment and
technology acquisition agreements, management contracts, and joint ventures with investors, and building and institutionalizing local legal expertise and skills on
government business - commercial transactions and arrangements. He is versed in international conomic law, international trade and investment laws, and intentional
business and commercial laws, such as Countertrade (Barter, Buy-back, offsets) as an option to promote inter-African trade. He is an advocate for meaningful legal
regimes and institutional framework for the exploitation / development and environmental management of mining/mineral resources and renewable and non-renewable
natural resources which guarantee sustainable contribution to the development of national and host-local communities, promote proper environmental control and
management, and safeguard investment interests of international and local investors.
He is an expert on law enforcement, security and justice sector (legal, judicial and criminal justice systems) reforms, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and
other pacific methods of conflict / dispute prevention, mitigation and resolution, including employing ADR techniques to address security concerns and governance
to promote civic engagement, collaborative participation in national reconciliation, and peace-building initiatives. He is an expert in Countering Violent
Extremism (CVE) via Community-Oriented Policing. Other areas of his expertise include peace-keeping/building initiatives of the UN and regional organizations,
international humanitarian law, law of armed conflict, international claims, litigation and arbitration. An expert on Human Rights, he advocates for a commitment
to contemporary notions of safeguarding human and fundamental rights, protection of refugees, internally displaced persons, minorities, and vulnerable members of
society, and approaches human rights issues from a third world perspective. His other areas of interest include access to justice; legal aid, and gender (female)
and juvenile justice.
An expert consultant on national and global security governance he has consulted for the Ministry of National Security, Ghana and provided intelligence analysis
and strategic advice on existing, emergent and potential domestic and global security issues (2021-2022).He also served on the Advisory Board of the National
Security Coordinator and advised on strategic, legal and intelligence issues of national and global security concerns, for inclusion in the Coordinator’s weekly
cabinet briefings to the President and the Cabinet (2021-2022).
Dr. Fofie was the lead consultant on a security and rule of law project to develop a blue print proposal for identifying, preventing, mitigating, and / or
resolving conflicts and security concerns in post-conflict African countries, based on his previous work on a project in Liberia similar in philosophy - the
mitigating local disputes program. The project was funded by Tetra Tech DPK Consulting, USA, a leading global consultancy company on rule of law, international
development and governance projects (see co-authored published article on this work in (2017) 83 (3) Arbitration (International Journal of Arbitration, Mediation
and Dispute Management), 288–301).
He is a member of several professional associations, e.g: Network to promote the Rule of Law; International Legal Assistance Consortium
(an umbrella organization of legal experts from over 40 member-associations and organizations representing over three million judges, prosecutors,
lawyers and academics world-wide; West Africa Peace and Security Network; International Bar Association; American Association of International Law; New York
County Lawyers' Association; New York Lawyers Committee for Human Rights.
