The journey of a Ghanaian legal luminary-Kwame Nyampong Esq.

&NewLine;<p>INTERVIEW WITH LAWYER NYAMPONG&comma; ESQ&period;<br>&lpar;LAWYER &vert; BUSINESSMAN &vert; SOFTWARE DEVELOPER &vert; PHILANTROPIST &vert; LIFE COACH<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p><br>Kwame has extensive experience in corporate transactions&comma; including restructurings&comma; reorganizations&comma; and demergers&comma; as well as advising on various schemes such as capital reductions&comma; share buy-backs&comma; joint ventures&comma; and strategic alliances&period; He is also knowledgeable in commercial contracts and corporate governance&period;<br>Aside from his expertise in corporate transactions&comma; Kwame is also well-versed in handling corporate disputes&comma; particularly in shareholder disagreements&comma; breach of warranty claims&comma; insurance disputes&comma; professional negligence claims&comma; partnership disputes&comma; planning disputes&comma; and compulsory purchases&period;<br>As a lawyer&comma; Kwame is highly enthusiastic&comma; personable&comma; and professional&comma; with great leadership skills and a positive attitude towards challenging tasks&period; He is goal-oriented&comma; creative&comma; and resourceful&comma; with exceptional problem-solving abilities&period; He also specializes in debt recovery&comma; having previously served as the Managing Director of Direct Debt Recovery Consult Limited and as a Recovery Consultant for over 15 commercial banks&period;<br>In addition to his legal practice&comma; Kwame serves on several boards in different industries&comma; including oil and gas&comma; real estate&comma; manufacturing&comma; and banking and finance&period;<br>Kwame is currently the Managing Partner of FRANKLYN &amp&semi; PARTNERS&semi; a full-service law firm situate at the heart of Accra&comma; Ghana&comma; with clients across the globe&period;<br>Kwame currently serves as the Vice President of the Association of European Lawyers&period; Under his leadership&comma; the firm was adjudged as the Global Award Winner for the Full-Service Law Firm&comma; 2022 by the Leaders in Law&period; He also has to his credit the winner of the 2023 Best Law Firm In Corporate Law And Mergers And Acquisition by the GLOBAL 100&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;mystorymagazine&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2023&sol;09&sol;IMG-20230925-WA0003-723x1024&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-10622"&sol;><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>INTERVIEWER&colon; Can you tell us about your background and education&quest;<br>LAWYER NYAMPONG&colon;<br>Family&colon;<br>I am not married&period; I have kids&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>My Life&colon;<br>I grew up in Osu&comma; in the Greater Accra Region of the Republic of Ghana&period; I started pre-school at Osu Salem Five and Six &lpar;5 &amp&semi; 6&rpar; which a shifting system school at the time&period; We use to run a bi-weekly&semi; morning and afternoon shifts&period; I furthered my education at Osu Presby Boys&semi; a very popular day school&comma; where I completed my basic secondary education&period; I then continued at Aquinas Secondary School for my second level education&period; After completing Aquinas&comma; I had to work for about a year to save up for the university&period; I majored in economics at the University of Ghana&comma; Legon&period;<br>Growing up was not easy&comma; especially living in the slums of Osu and constantly seeing the nice things in life on Oxford Street&period; It was a challenging time&comma; but I persevered&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>INTERVIEWER&colon; Would you say your background influenced your decision to become whatever you are now or it was a gradual process to bring you here&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>LAWYER NYAMPONG&colon; My background has been characterized by a free and unplanned lifestyle&period; Becoming a lawyer was never something I foresaw or planned for&comma; but rather it happened naturally&period; I started my career as a Financial Consultant and was involved in various other ventures&comma; including event organization and a real estate agency&period; I also had my focus on debt recovery&period; Prior to pursuing law&comma; I worked for about sixteen &lpar;16&rpar; commercial banks and held seats at tables that were purely due to the benevolence of others&period; I recall carrying three handkerchiefs with me all the time &lpar;one for our face&comma; one for our shoes&comma; and a clean one just in case we needed it at a meeting&rpar;&period; I used to walk a lot due to my circumstance at the time&period; Although life was tough&comma; I am grateful for how far I have come&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;mystorymagazine&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2023&sol;09&sol;IMG-20230925-WA0001-682x1024&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-10623"&sol;><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>INTERVIEWER&colon;&nbsp&semi;So&comma; when did you realize you wanted to pursue a career as a lawyer&comma; when was the realization&quest;<br>LAWYER NYAMPONG&colon; The realization did not come in a deliberate manner&semi; it was a bizarre circumstance or&comma; for want of better word&comma; coincidence that led me to me becoming a lawyer&period; Let me explain&period; While consulting on a recovery for a Chinese client&comma; I received a response to my demand notice from a lawyer representing the debtor owing my client&period; We thereafter agreed to meet at my office to negotiate&period; To my surprise&comma; the lawyer turned out to be someone I had known for years from my time at Legon and a good friend to my business associate that I had at the time fallen out with&period;<br>When the lawyer arrived for the meeting and realized I was the one he was coming to meet he decided rather be antagonistic by first challenging the Power of Attorney attached to the demand notice with snide comments like &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I have been to Law School&comma; do you know what it takes to go to Law School…” long story short&comma; I recovered the debt in full but was I also struck by his comment about the rigors of law school&period; I applied to law school&comma; not long after the said meeting&comma; despite having never considered that before&period;<br>When the lawyer saw me at the bar&comma; he was surprised to learn that I had become a lawyer&comma; and I have not forgotten that he inadvertently led me to this career&period; My career path as a lawyer was not planned&comma; but it has been a rewarding journey so far&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>INTERVIEWER&colon;&nbsp&semi;Was it not difficult with the academics&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;m sure&comma; you were doing business and running other things on the side&period; Is it a difficult thing to do&quest;<br>LAWYER NYAMPONG&colon;&nbsp&semi;Combining work and schooling was challenging for me&comma; as I pursued my LLB through the regular module&period; Our classes were only in the evenings&comma; after work&comma; starting from 5&colon;00 p&period;m&period; Unfortunately&comma; there were times when my work obligations extended into that period&period; Consequently&comma; there were instances when I arrived late to class or couldn&&num;8217&semi;t attend at all&period; Despite these challenges&comma; we persevered by planning our schedules carefully and relying on our prayers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>INTERVIEWER&colon;&nbsp&semi;How long have you practised as a lawyer&quest;<br>LAWYER NYAMPONG&colon; I will be seven years at the Bar on September 30th this year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>INTERVIEWER&colon;&nbsp&semi;So&comma; as a lawyer&comma; what kind of cases do you generally handle<br>LAWYER NYAMPONG&colon;&nbsp&semi;I am not particularly fond of litigation&comma; despite my proficiency in it&period; I find it very boring and time-consuming&period; Instead&comma; I focus on discovering ways to resolve matters out of court&period; We consider myself more of a corporate practitioner&semi; mergers and acquisitions&comma; joint venture arrangements and negotiations&comma; demergers&comma; immigration and other related matters&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>INTERVIEWER&colon;&nbsp&semi;How do you manage confidential information&quest;<br>LAWYER NYAMPONG&colon;&nbsp&semi;Managing confidential information as a lawyer is relatively easy if you have a natural inclination towards discretion&period; Additionally&comma; lawyers are trained in advocacy and confidentiality during their time at Law School&period; There are tales about lawyers being banned from public transportation&comma; street-side eateries&comma; and bars to remind them to avoid situations that may lead to inadvertent disclosure of sensitive information&period; These stories may not be entirely true&comma; but the message is clear &&num;8211&semi; steer clear of situations where you may be tempted to reveal confidential information to the wrong person&period;<br>We are able to protect our clients’ confidential issues through our online application &lpar;CLIQLAW&rpar; which is well protected with very restricted access&semi; as a firm&period; CLIQLAW is currently the most sort after law firm management software&period;<br>I am personally guided by the good old adage of &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;see no evil&comma; hear no evil and speak no evil”&period; Know these and know peace&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>INTERVIEWER&colon;&nbsp&semi;Is there anything like a hard case&comma; like this is a very difficult case I have faced as a lawyer&quest; Is there anything like that&quest;<br>LAWYER NYAMPONG&colon;&nbsp&semi;Yes&comma; as a lawyer&comma; I have encountered a lot of challenging cases&period; There has been time that I have had seek assistance from very good friends at the Bar&period; Seeking the opinions of your colleagues or running ideas by them&period; It’s actually a very common thing at the Bar&period; In Ghana&comma; most lawyers are general practitioners even though it’s impossible to know everything&period; It is&comma; therefore&comma; always wise to seek guidance from someone who has walked that path before you&comma; especially when faced with a difficult challenge&period; While it is possible to handle challenging cases as you gain more experiences&comma; there is no shame in seeking guidance or bouncing ideas off off others&period; It is a normal and healthy practice for lawyers&period;<br>I have personally faced many difficult cases&semi; but I have always been able to resolve them&period; Persistence and diligence have always been the hallmarks&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>INTERVIEWER&colon;&nbsp&semi;Thank you so much&period; What are some of the philosophies you ascribe to as a lawyer&quest;<br>LAWYER NYAMPONG&colon;&nbsp&semi;There are values that I consider as the hallmarks that define my character&period; These include integrity&comma; which I believe is absolutely essential&comma; as well as persistence&comma; persuasiveness&comma; and professionalism&period; As for my personal philosophy&comma; I identify with the school of thought that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;an unexamined life is not worth living”&period; I believe that every action we take should be considered not only from our own perspective&comma; but also with regard to its potential impact on those around us&period; If our actions do not harm others&comma; then we should strive to live our lives to the fullest&period; That&&num;8217&semi;s basically me in a nutshell&period;<br>I discovered at an early stage in my life that about 80&percnt; of our problems are self-inflicted&period; Tell me your problem and I might be able to tell you&comma; with utmost accuracy&comma; how you brought that on yourself&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>INTERVIEWER&colon; Who is your typical client&quest;<br>LAWYER NYAMPONG&colon; I am inclined to say that the client with deep pockets is the most desirable&period; As a lawyer&comma; I always advise my clients to be upfront with me and provide me with the detailed facts always&period; I find this as the first step in getting the best out of your lawyer&period; If you choose to be dishonest with me&comma; stick to your story throughout the legal proceedings&period; I have had to withdraw from representing clients&comma; on few occasions&comma; when their stories turned out to be untrue&period; As a lawyer&comma; I always strive to be competent&comma; and it is unfair to me if my clients’ misrepresentation of facts makes me unable to perform&period;<br>My typical corporate clients are those with significant financial resources&comma; and therefore always happy to pay for our services&period; These clients are essential to sustaining our practice and the firm&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>INTERVIEWER&colon; Finally&comma; you know most young entrepreneurs do not consider having a lawyer even when they begin a business&comma; what&&num;8217&semi;s your advice to such people&quest; Do you think it is very essential that every young entrepreneur must consider having&comma; maybe&comma; a lawyer friend or seek the consent of lawyers before they enter into any business even if they are running a business as a start-up&comma; they still need lawyers to be part of their decision making&comma; what advice do you have for such people<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;mystorymagazine&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2023&sol;09&sol;IMG-20230925-WA0002-819x1024&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-10624" width&equals;"608" height&equals;"761"&sol;><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>LAWYER NYAMPONG&colon; I strongly believe that having a lawyer as part of your team is crucial&comma; as a business person&period; Whether you are aware of it or not&comma; there are transactions and agreements that one may enter into without knowing the legal implications&period; Many individuals&comma; especially the youth&comma; tend to blindly append their signatures to documents without reading them&comma; solely focused on the immediate benefits&period; However&comma; over the years&comma; I have witnessed many young businesses and individuals fall into legal trouble and suffered significant losses as a result of such decisions&period;<br>While some people perceive lawyers to be expensive&comma; it is not always the case&period; As human beings&comma; most of us have a good heart and are willing to assist up-and-coming businesses&period; I personally dedicate some of my time to guide young entrepreneurs and offer legal advice at no cost&period; As someone who has benefited from the kindness of others&comma; I make it a point to extend the same kindness when I have the opportunity&period;<br>I strongly advise individuals to seek legal advice when they feel it is necessary&comma; and to properly organize their affairs as business persons&comma; starting with the preparation stages&period; It is also important to find a lawyer who has a genuine interest in what you are doing and is happy to advise you in that regard&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>INTERVIEWER&colon;&nbsp&semi;It&&num;8217&semi;s a pleasure&period; Thank you so much lawyer for having us&period; We are very grateful&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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