Ghanaian firm Oxford & Beaumont opens in UK

15 February 2010 | By James Swift

The office will be used to help build relationships with UK firms and companies to facilitate investment between the UK and Ghana, which has grown since the country discovered oil three years ago.

Managing partner Elkem Nutifafa Kuenyehia said the office may also be used in the mid-term to provide Ghanaian law advice.

Kuenyehia will be in charge of the office, splitting his time between Accra and the UK, visiting ­London once a month. Business development manager Jacquline Williams will be based in London permanently.

“We’ve been in existence for four years and in that time we’ve made around 40 trips to London,” said Kuenyehia. “We do a lot of work with London-based firms and send staff here for training, so we thought we needed someone on the ground to build ­relationships.

“We can do what we’re doing without being in ­London by using email etc, but we can’t be a world class law firm without a strong London office. We want to give members global ­exposure so our associates will go to London and meet people, helping our lawyers to become more global.”