Following a recent arrival of high delegation of the ECOWAS Court in Freetown on 14th April 2024 for talks with senior officials of the government of Sierra Leone and the country’s Bar Association on Preparation for the 2024 conference of the Court, the Court will also organize a training programme for lawyers and law students from Sierra Leone on the margins of its 2024 international conference to deepen their knowledge of the Court for improved practice, the President of the Court, Justice Edward Amoako Asante, has said.

The president said during a meeting with the executive of the Sierra Leone Bar Association (SLBA) in Freetown on Tuesday, 16th April 2024, that the resource persons for the training would be drawn from senior lawyers from the Court, who will be attending the conference.

He said the training should hopefully close the lacuna in the knowledge of the Court among legal practitioners from the country based on the realisation that most of the lawyers appearing before the Court for cases from Sierra Leone were from outside the country.

Justice Asante urged the leadership of the SLBA to help with the process for the successful conduct of the training, working in collaboration with other relevant bodies in the country, including the leadership of the law school to streamline the participation and other elements of the training.

He said the training should hopefully close the lacuna in the knowledge of the Court among legal practitioners from the country based on the realisation that most of the lawyers appearing before the Court for cases from Sierra Leone were from outside the country.

Justice Asante urged the leadership of the SLBA to help with the process for the successful conduct of the training, working in collaboration with other relevant bodies in the country, including the leadership of the law school to streamline the participation and other elements of the training.

He announced that the President of the SLBA, Eddinia Michaela Swallow Esq will deliver a goodwill message at the 2024 conference of the Court, which will be historic, being the first time the President of a country’s bar association will be allowed to deliver such a message since the inaugural conference in 2004.