Following his nomination by the President together with some two other Justices of Appeal on 10thNovember, 2023, and after a successful vetting by Parliament’s Appointment Committee, Justice Richard Adjei-Frimpong was finally sworn into office by the President on 3rd January, 2024, as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Ghana, a position of honour, prestige and real prominence.
Born on 27th February, 1971 and called to the Bar in 1998, it is fair to state that the rise of Justice Adjei-Frimpong has been relatively meteoric albeit not undeserved.
Age: 53
Favorite Book: The Closing Chapter by Lord Denning
Childhood: was born to Nana Agyei Ababio, a Teacher at Acherensua, the future Supreme Court Justice clearly aspired to be a lawyer early in life. By virtue of an introduction to a prominent lawyer in Sunyani (Lawyer Otu Essel of blessed Memory, a friend to his father). The future Jurist determined that his life would be dedicated to the law. Justice Adjei-Frimpong thus work his way through various institutions to achieve this feat. He was called to the bar in 1998.
Experience; Justice Adjei Frimpong started his Career at the Bench in 2003 as a District Magistrate and served as a Circuit Court Judge between 2003 to 2010; a Justice of the High Court from 2010 to 2020; and a Justice of Appeal from August, 2020 to January, 2024. Justice Richard Adjei-Frimpong in his sojourn at the bench has exhibited competence, undoubted dedication, industry and integrity in the discharge of his judicial duties
Judicial Philisophy;
His abiding concern has always been about access to justice and that cases should be won and lost based on evidence and law only.
Justice Richard Adjei-Frimpong’s judgments are consistent with a deep understanding and encyclopedic knowledge of the law, revealing a judge who has a keen eye for detail and an ardent researcher of the law.
Notable Judgement on the Bench;
CARBON COMMODITIES DMCC V Trust Link; Suit No. H1/63/2020; delivered on 22nd April, 2021, CA.
In this judgment – an appeal from a decision of the trial High Court – the central question for determination was the extent of a waiver of an arbitration agreement which in effect, precludes a party’s right to apply for stay of proceedings. The central issue was whether pleading an arbitration agreement alone in an amended statement of defence was sufficient (in light of prior and subsequent conducts) to warrant the grant of stay of proceedings for purposes of reference to arbitration.
In its Judgement, the Court of Appeal – speaking through Justice Richard Adjei-Frimpong, dismissed the appeal and by extension upheld the decision of the trial court not to stay proceedings.
Adjei-Frimpong JA ( as he then was ) masterfully reviewed the relevant statutes and case law on the subject and held inter alia that, to the extent that the Appellant entered conditional appearance, delivered an amended statement of defence and a counterclaim besides filing other applications after the pre-trial conference, and taking into consideration the long lapse in time before bringing the application for the stay of proceedings, the Appellant and by the extension the parties had waived their right under the arbitration agreement.
The significance of the decision by the Court of Appeal per Adjei-Frimpong JA although followed the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of DESIMONE LIMITED VRS OLAM GHANA LIMITED now reported in the 2017-2018 Volume 1 SCGLR at page 286, it nonetheless espoused a distinctive principle of law: that pleading an arbitration agreement alone was not sufficient, in the midst of the other prior and subsequent conducts, to warrant the grant of stay of proceedings for purposes of reference to arbitration.
Family: Married with 4 children.
Education: University of Ghana, Legon;Ghana School of Law: Barrister-at-Law. He was the recipient of the S.Y. Bimpong-Buta Award for the Best Student in Interpretation of Deeds and Statutes at the Ghana School of law: Master of Laws degree in International Maritime Law International Maritime Law Institute (IMO) in Malta
What does the new Justice bring to the Supreme Court: Institutional knowledge gained over years shall surely be brought to bear on his work, especially with his long service as a trial judge. In the areas of access to justice and as well building a robust judiciary (pet project), the justice stands ready to tackle these challenges
Funfact: Cocoa Farming.
Favorite Quotation: “if the right to be heard is to be real right which is worth anything, it must carry with it a right in the accused man to know the case which is made against him….it follows of course that the judge or whoever has to adjudicate must not hear a case or receive representation from one side behind the back of the other… No one who has lost a case will believe he has been fairly treated if the other side has had access to the judge without his knowing”
Advice to young lawyers who aspire to be Judges: They should live by the ethics of the profession and build a strong foundation in legal Knowledge. These virtues are a sine qua non for successful career on the bench if they ever want to build one.
