TWO DAY TRAINING FOR SIERRA LEONE LAWYERS AND LAW STUDENTS ORGANISED BY ECOWAS COURT OPENS IN FREETOWN

Some 80 lawyers and law students from Sierra Leone will benefit from a training programme being organised by the ECOWAS Court to acquaint the participants with the requisite skills and knowledge to enable them engage effectively with the Court.

A joint initiative of the Court and the Sierra Leone Bar Association (SLBA), the training which will take place on the margins of the ongoing 2024 international conference of the Court, is being organised with resource persons from the Court, mainly lawyers from the Registry as well as its Research and Documentation department.

Four presentations are expected to be made during the training, which opens on Tuesday, 14^th May 2024 starting with an overview of the Court, followed by others on access to the Court and its jurisdiction, practice and procedure and the enforcement of its decisions. The presentations will be followed by interactive discussions and a question and a answer session.

Opening statements are expected to be made by the Chief Registrar of the Court, Dr Yaouza Ouro-Sama and the President of the bar association, Eddinia Michaela Swallow, Esq.

During the pre-conference visit of a delegation of the Court to the country, the President of the Court, Justice Edward Amoako Asante said that the training is part of the institution’s efforts at familiarising lawyers and law students with the specificities of the Court for improved practice.

“ We noticed a lacuna in the knowledge of the practice and procedures of the court among lawyers appearing before it, most of them from outside Sierra Leone and this training is intended to help plug the knowledge gap,” he told a delegation of the association led by its president.