Portia Coffie
Introduction
Portia Coffie is a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Ghana and the Managing Partner of Ellisonspencer and Partners. Portia has over 20 years of professional experience in corporate legal practice, focusing on governance and regulatory compliance, foreign investment, labour laws, immigration, company law practice and procedure and corporate transactions. Portia has developed a niche in corporate legal advisory and consulting practice. She is also an experienced boardroom practitioner and has acted as local director and Local Manager for a number of limited liability companies and external companies. In Portia’s over two decades of corporate practice and experience, she has worked as a statutory (company) secretary and has worked and advised several companies, boards and shareholders on matters bordering on company law practice and procedure, general legal issues and sector-specific laws.
Corporate Work Experience
Portia has advised several corporate clients and individuals on matters relating to corporate governance and regulatory compliance; company law practice and procedures at Board and Shareholders’ meetings; provided legal advisory services to investors on general and sector-specific laws; and assisted investors in establishing corporate presence in Ghana. She has provided legal opinions on a wide range of legal matters including company law; labour; investment and immigration; corporate structuring and re-structuring; liquidation /de-registration as well as general legal advice.
Portia has also reviewed and drafted an array of legal documents and agreements, including shareholders’ agreements; company constitutions; terms of reference for rights issue transactions; terms of reference and board charters for Boards and Board committees; share sale and purchase agreements; Management and Technical service agreements (Technology Transfer Agreements); joint ventures; employment contracts; loan agreements; leases; declaration of trust just to mention a few. Portia has also provided Registrar services by managing the shares and keeping proper records of share movements including sales; transfers; bonus issues; private placements and rights issues for a public limited liability company with about 120 shareholders.
Portia has handled corporate transactions such as corporate restructuring; legal audits, company secretarial audits, rights issues; share purchase transactions; share acquisition & subscriptions transactions; voluntary liquidation/ de-registration; and corporate re-restructuring; and has been a part of a team of lawyers who worked on several mergers and acquisitions transactions, focusing on the governance and regulatory compliance (corporate authorization) aspect of the transactions.
Management Experience
Portia spent about ten and a half years of her career in management. She is the immediate former CEO and Head of Legal of Dehands Services Ltd, a governance and company secretarial company with over 50 corporate clients, from 1st October 2013 to 19th April 2024 when she resigned. She was responsible for the overall management and direction of the company, reporting periodically to the Board of Directors and the shareholders.
During this period, her strategic focus and direction were to ensure internal and external compliance with statutory and regulatory obligations of the company in a determined, professional, honest, accountable and transparent manner.
Key Training Programmes
Portia has attended several seminars, conferences and training programmes organised by international and local organisations. The trainings and seminars attended include a Master Class on Corporate Governance organised by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE); the Securities and Exchange Commission on governance and SEC Regulations; Anti-money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism; several training programmes organised by the Ghana Bar Association; the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC); joint training programmes by GIPC, Ghana Revenue Authority & the Bank of Ghana; the Office of the Registrar of Companies (ORC) and several training by the Corporate Law Institute. She has also attended a Management Excellence Training programme in Abuja, Nigeria, organised by (the then) Deloitte & Touche West, East and Central Africa.
Qualifications
Portia holds a Master of Laws (LL.M) degree from the University of Leicester (UK) in Employment Relations awarded in 2010; a Qualifying Certificate of Law (QCL) from the Ghana School of Law and was called to the Ghana Bar in October 2004; and a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) degree from the University of Ghana awarded in 2002.
Mobile: + 233 (0) 243 209982
Email: pcoffie@ellisonspencerandpartners.com