Name

Date of birth

 Nationality

 Marital Status

PERSONAL DATA

 Edrisa Mansajang Sissoho

 4^th November 1966

Gambian

Married, 

 1^st Jan 2004  to

present date

Nov 2003 to date

Dec 2003

May 2003 to Nov 2003

 April 2002 to

Nov 2002

Oct 2001 to

March 2002

WORK HISTORY

Self Employed Barrister/ Solicitor & Consultant -

 Founded my own law practice styled as Mansajang Chambers

Engaged in a wide field of practice which includes;

-Civil and Criminal Litigation

-Estate agency, buying and selling and renting of property

-advice and representation of banks and other financial institutions

-application for probate and administration of estates

- Intellectual property rights, registration of trademarks, patents and other IP rights

- Specialist in Commercial Arbitration and International Trade

- Review and drafting of legislation

Senior Legal Draftsman;

Writing Cabinet Papers and Drafting Policy Documents,

Drafting of Legislation, Treaties, and other Legal Documents.

Advising Cabinet Sub-Committee on Legislation,

Writing legal opinions and indictments,

Prosecution of civil and criminal cases. Serving on the Contracts Committee to review and approve departmental purchases. Advising on the application of the Gambia Procurement Act and Regulations;

 Acting Curator of In testate Estates; Responsible for the administration of over 2000 estates. Taking investment decisions and management of property. Guiding minors through their educational requirements. Supervision of eight junior staff. Drafting and negotiating contracts with building contractors, surveyors and other workmen. Mediating and arbitration of disputes; Help set up an accounting system and monitoring of estates expenditure. Litigation on behalf of the Curator’s Office. Drafting of Legislation and other documents. Criminal and Civil Litigation.

Senior State Counsel, The Gambia,

Writing Cabinet Papers and Drafting Policy Documents,

Drafting of Legislation, Treaties, and other Legal Documents.

Advising Cabinet Sub-Committee on Legislation, Conducting legal research using electronic and other means. Writing legal opinions and indictments. Preparing briefing material for the Attorney General and drafting speeches for the National Assembly Prosecution of civil and criminal cases. Attending international and diplomatic meeting on behalf of government.

Mangala & Co Solicitors, 305 Romford Road, Forest Gate, London E7 9HA England UK. Providing legal advice to Clients on matters involving consumer law, negligence, employment disputes, immigration and family law matters. Important part of my job involves advocacy on behalf of clients before immigration adjudicators and tribunal courts. (position was part-time)

Case worker, Cleveland & CO Solicitors; Whitechapel London E1 1BJ, England UK. As a case worker, my duties centred mainly on giving advice and making applications to the Home Office on matters connected with Immigration Law. I also gave advice on consumer, family and housing matters.( position was part-time)

 Oct 2000 to

1^st October 2001

 
Jan 2000 to Sept 2000

 
April 1998 to Dec 1999

Ag Principal Legal Draftsman, Attorney General’s Chambers, Banjul, The Gambia,

Writing Cabinet Papers and Drafting Policy Documents,

Drafting of Legislation, Treaties, and other Legal Documents.

Advising Cabinet Sub-Committee on Legislation,

Writing legal opinions and indictments,

Prosecution of civil and criminal cases.

Legal Draftsman, Attorney General’s Chambers, Banjul

Drafting of Legislation, Treaties, and other Legal Documents.

Advising Cabinet Sub-Committee on Legislation,

Writing legal opinions and indictments,

Prosecution of civil and criminal cases.

State Counsel, Attorney General’s Chambers. The Gambia.

Functions performed -

·         Prosecution of criminal cases and institution and defence of civil actions in superior courts and magistrates courts -Entailing the preparation of indictments and charge sheets, drafting submissions, motions, applications, and affidavits and interviewing witness and managing the    preparation and presentation of cases, statements of       claim and statements of defence.

·         Writing of legal opinions

·         Drafting of Legislation, Treaties and other Legal documents

·         Drafting of deeds and agreements

·         Representing the Gambia Government, Attorney General and Solicitor General at local and international meetings, conferences, seminars and workshops.

1^st October ‘97- to April 98

 
1990 to July 1994

Public Prosecutor, Attorney General’s Chambers. The Gambia.

Functions performed -

·         Writing of legal opinions

·         Prosecution of criminal cases in the Magistrates court.

·         Drafting of Criminal Charge Sheets for the Police

Company Secretary

With S.M. Sissoho & Sons Limited, Banjul, The Gambia. Functions performed included;

            ·    Book Keeping and Banking

            ·    Transport Logistics

            ·     Completing import and export documentation

            ·     Supervision of Staff

 
Sept 2001 to Sept 2002

 April 3^rd to 31^st June 2000

Sept. 1996 to
Jun. 1997

 July 1994
to June 1996

Sept 1986 to June 1987

Sept 1980 to June 1985

EDUCATION

LLM Queen Mary, University of London. Specialising in Banking Law. Intellectual Property Law, International Trade Law and International Comparative Commercial Arbitration.

 Certificate in Legislative Drafting (Institute of Advance Legal Studies, University of London, U.K)

B.L Inns of Court School of Law (London, U. K)

 LLB. (Hons.) University of Buckingham (U. K) 

“A” Levels, Davies Laing & Dick College (London, U.K.)

“O” Levels Saint Augustine’s High School, Banjul, The Gambia

Jan 2003

 Nov 2000 to

 February 2001

 Jan 2000 to Date

SPECIAL APPOINTMENTS / MEMBERSHIP

Member, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators

This is a professional international organisation for arbitrators based in London.

Acting Information Officer of the Attorney General’s Chambers and Department of State for Justice. In this role I give information to the news media, holding press conferences and writing press releases.

CABINET SUB-COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATION 

This committee scrutinises the text of legislation for the approval before submission to the whole of Cabinet. I act as the technical adviser to the committee. Involves the re-drafting of Legislative text and advising cabinet members on legal issues and policy.

April  ’98
to date

-Member of the Gambia Bar Association

March. 1998
to date

- Member of the Bar of England & Wales Association.

17^th July ’98
to date Dec 1999

Member of the Major Tender Board. This is a Government body that evaluates tenders for all Government contracts. Sitting on the board, I became familiar with Government and the World Bank Procurement Guidelines.

2^nd March 1999
to date   Dec 1999

Member of “CORA” – Committee on Residential Accommodation

This Government committee manages (maintains, repairs and collects rents) all government residential accommodation. It allocates accommodation to civil servants meeting the specified criterion.

 
April 1998

 March 1998

CALLED   TO   THE  BAR

 The Gambia Bar Association

 Bar of England and Wales at Lincolns’ Inn

LICENSES & CERTIFICATES

•    LLM (Lon) Commercial & Corporate & Law     (December 2002)

·     Legislative Drafting (3^rd April-31^st June 2000)  (20^th July 2000)

·     Call to the Bar of England and Wales            (12^th March 1998)

·         Call to the Bar Certificate (The Gambia)    -   (21^st April 1998)

·         LL.B. (Hons.) Degree Certificate                -    (8^th March 1997)

·         GCE 'O' Level' Certificate                            -    (1985)

·         GCE ‘A’ Level Certificate                            -    ( 1987)

OTHER SKILLS/LANGUAGES

I am computer literate and speak moderate French. I am familiar with computer programmes like Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet and searching electronic legal data bases like lexis ect.

INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS, SEMINAR etc ATTENDED

31^st March to 4^th April 2003

 
25^th Nov to 6^th 2001

21 to 23^rd Nov 2001

13^th to 17^th Nov 2000

Participant ARIPO/EPO/CIPRO forum on Industrial Property for African and Arabic countries, Benoni, South Africa

British Copyright Council and WIPO intermediate Training Course on Copyright and Related Rights held in London UK.

Participant, WIPO Interregional Intermediate Seminar on Copyright and Related Rights, held in Geneva, Switzerland
 

WIPO-USPTO Academy of the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Arlington, Virginia, USA

21^st to 24^th Nov 1999

Loan Negotiations with the African Development Bank in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. I was the legal Counsel of a six-person delegation that successfully negotiated a $4.5 m dollar loan for a community skills improvement project.

1^st to 4^th Nov 1999

African Delegates meeting on draft African Convention on Extradition and Mutual Legal Assistance, Cairo, Egypt.

12^TH to 15^th  Oct 1998

Participant, WIPO colloquium on the teaching of New Intellectual Property issues, Pretoria, South Africa

 
August 2001

 
12^th to 17^th July 99

LOCAL SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS ATTENDED

2 day Seminar of drafting “New Competition Law” for the Gambia sponsored by the commonwealth Secretariat, held in Banjul.

Training on the use of International Human Rights Procedures, Banjul.

 October to November 2000

CONSULTANCIES UNDERTAKEN

 In collaboration with the Gambia Technical Training Institute, we undertook a study of the laws affecting and regulating the Gambia tourism industry. Following the study, I drafted a Bill called, The Gambia Tourism Authority Bill.

DRAFTING EXPERIENCE

¨       Drafted The Gambia Divestiture Bill 2000

¨       Help in the Drafting of  The Insurance Bill 2000

¨       Drafted numerous briefing material for Attorney General

¨       Drafted speeches for Attorney General for presentation to parliament

¨       Help in the drafting of the Financial Institution Bill

¨       Help in the drafting of the “new” Local Government Bill

¨       Drafted Amendments to the 1997 Constitution

¨       Vetted & Drafted numerous Treaties, Conventions and MOU

¨       Drafted numerous Instruments of Ratification, Statutory Orders and Legal Notices for Gazetting purposes

¨       Drafted The Tourism Authority Bill