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Joyce Adeline Bamford-Addo JSC CV

The first female justice of the Supreme Court in Ghana.

Call 1961, Inner Temple

Joyce Adeline Bamford-Addo was born in March 1937 to an English father and a Ghanaian mother. She was educated at St Mary’s boarding school and OLA boarding school on the Cape Coast. She travelled to the UK for her legal training and was called to the Bar in 1961 and after working in the UK for a year was called to the Bar in Ghana.

In 1963 she was appointed State Attorney. Ten years later was appointed Chief State Attorney and her public services continued when in 1976, she was appointed Director of Public Prosecutions.

In 1994 She was appointed a Supreme Court Judge from 1994 to 2004. It was during this period that she was awarded Woman of the Year by the American Biographical Institute in 2000 for her efforts towards women issues and women empowerment.

In 1991 she became the Second Deputy Speaker of Ghana’s Consultative Assembly in order to draft the 1992 constitution. In the 2008 Presidential and Parliamentary election she was elected as the Speaker of the Fourth Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana.

Joyce was the Speaker in the Parliament of Ghana from 2009 to 2013, the first woman to be appointed a speaker in Africa and elevating her to the third most important appointment in Ghana.