Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Torkornoo is a Ghanaian Judge and author, born on 11th September 1962. She hails from Winneba in the Central Region of Ghana.
She was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Akuffo Addo in November 2019 and later confirmed by the parliament of the republic of Ghana.
In 2011, she graduated from the Golden Gate University, USA with an LLM in Intellectual Property Law. She is an alumni of the University of Ghana, and graduated from the Ghana School of Law in 1986. And called to the bar the same year and is one of the seniors at the Supreme Court of Ghana.
In 2001, she obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in International Law and Organization from the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), part of Erasmus University in the Netherlands.
Prior to joining Fugar & Co., a law firm in Accra as an associate, Justice Torkornoo worked as a volunteer at the FIDA Legal Aid Service and did an internship with Nabarro Nathanson in London. She returned to the firm (Fugar & Co.) in 1994 to become a director.
In January 1997, she co-founded Sozo Law Consult where she worked as Managing Partner until 14 May 2004 when she was appointed a Justice of the High Court of Ghana. She worked as a High Court judge until October 2012 when she was elevated to the Court of Appeal.
Justice Torkornoo has held several leadership roles in the judicial service. In her work as chair of E-Justice Committee, she has led the planning of automation of all levels of courts, procurement and incorporation of the use of electronic resources and software in the work of the Judicial Service.
She has also served as the Supervising Judge of commercial courts since 2013 where she has set the agenda for and chaired the meetings and programmes of the Users Committee of the Commercial Courts.
She has quietly ensured the sustenance of a keen culture of efficiency in the commercial division of the High Court nationwide through leadership initiatives such as ‘brown bag learning sessions’ for Judges of the court, consistent meetings with staff and leadership of the court, engagements with external service operators such as process servers, valuers, auctioneers and the Users Committee of the court and presentation of policy briefs to Chief Justices on needed reforms in commercial justice delivery as well as the administrative needs of the court.
Justice Torkornoo presided over the implementation of the Business Environment Engineering Project (BEEP) funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom. Her leadership directions in that project ignited and provided the Ministry of Trade and Industry with guidance on the introduction of Users Committees into other institutions that participated in the BEEP project.
Outcomes of the work of the BEEP project within the Judiciary included the design of necessary reforms in the monitoring and evaluation of data collection currently being implemented by the Judiciary, the design of necessary reforms in the post-judgment and execution part of justice delivery, and reforms in stream lining of ADR in commercial justice delivery in Circuit and High Courts that led to the passage of High Court (Civil Procedure) Amendment Rules 2020, CI 133.
Justice Torkornoo has served as member of the faculty and Governing Board of the Judicial Training Institute, vice chair of the Internship and Clerkship Committee of the Judiciary since 2012, member and chair of the E-Judgment Committee since 2010, member and chair of the Publications and Editorial Committee of the Association of Magistrates and Judges of Ghana since 2006, and member and chair of various ad-hoc committees needed for the smooth administration of the work of the Judicial Service of Ghana.
She has served as judicial leader in the development and oversight of several reform projects of the Judiciary involving the European Union, USAID, DFID, collaborations with other African countries. She has also been a member of the Law Reform Commission since 2016.
She was part of the seven-member panel that heard the 2020 election petition by John Mahama against The Electoral Commission of Ghana and Nana Akufo-Addo.
She has paid her dues in the perfect and faultless delivery of justice and most qualified to be the Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana.
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: Why Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Torkornoo Must be the Next Chief Justice of Ghana){kind=link}
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