lawyers in the firm
Barrister Maurice Garber
Maurice Garber is the Senior Partner and Founder of the law firm of Garber & Co. He qualified as an English Barrister in 1986, relocated to the United States and was admitted as an Attorney of the State of New York, USA in 1988 and a Barrister & Solicitor of the High Court of Sierra Leone in 1989. He was also admitted to the Bar of the Judicature of Jamaica, West Indies in 1992. Having practiced as a New York Attorney for over a decade, Mr. Garber returned home in 2003/2004 to revive his father’s law practice and he established the Law firm of Garber & Co, formerly known as Ijesha Chambers.
While in the United States, Mr. Garber served as Managing Partner in the New York based firm of Stevens, Hinds & White, P.C. comprising 9 lawyers and 3 support staff where he presided over the firm’s civil litigation and commercial transactions department encompassing corporate and international business matters, estate & probate law, taxation, banking, immigration, civil rights, civil litigation and intellectual property law.
Between the period of 2007 to 2019, Mr. Garber intermittently served as a short–term Legal Consultant to the African Development Bank where he conducted a review of treaties, charters, agreements, grant documents, loans, special funds and service contracts, and provided advice to the Bank, Board of Governors and Directors on legal issues affecting the immunity, rights, obligations & privileges of the Bank; employment & human resource issues; grants, capital markets & swap transactions; and trust funds, cooperation agreements & financial instruments. He was also responsible for advising on administrative regulations, grievances and employment disputes, the drafting of pleadings and representing the Bank before the Staff Appeals Committee and the Administrative Tribunal of the African Development Bank.
With over 30 years’ experience at the Sierra Leone bar, Mr. Garber serves as City Solicitor to the Freetown City Council and is the retained lawyer for numerous international clients including Heineken International, INGO’s, and other national companies and entities. He has acted as the Project Finance Solicitor to the World Bank, IFC, DIFID, Afreximbank, Islamic Development Bank, FBN Bank UK, Standard Chartered Bank and the Ecowas Bank for Industrial Development (EBID). He is routinely consulted on project finance transactions in Sierra Leone concerning hotels, telecommunications & road constructions, mining and power sector projects, refinancing of existing projects and green field projects. Mr. Garber has over 12 years’ expertise in the power sector having served as a Solicitor on the Bumbuna II Hydro project, Aksa Energy HFO project, in addition to acting as Legal Counsel to Income Electrix Ltd, Nations Solar, US Diversified Power and many other companies in the power and renewable energy sector.
Apart from transactional matters, Mr. Garber is a seasoned litigator and has brought or defended cases on behalf of the U.S. Government, Crown Agents, DIFID and numerous other international and national companies / individuals. Mr. Garber has initiated large class action lawsuits against Sierra Leone mining companies, and the Sierra Leone government including maintaining a civil rights action before the Ecowas Court of Human Rights in Abuja, Nigeria.
Mr. Garber holds a Masters degree in International Trade, Marine Insurance and Maritime Law from the University of London. He is frequently called upon by large international firms to provide legal opinions on complex matters involving Sierra Leonean law. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitration, United Kingdom and he has participated and is a guest speaker at numerous conferences and seminars sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Arbitration, UK (CIArb), International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), African Arbitration Association (AfAA) and ICAMA in Abuja, Nigeria. He is the author of various legal articles and papers on project finance transactions in Sierra Leone published in Chambers Global Practice Guides on Project Finance 2020 edition and 2023.
Email: mauricegarber@yahoo.com | m.garber@garberandco.com Phone: +23276-671588, +225-077730-5754 & +447753-299327
Barrister Derek Beoku-Betts
Derek Beoku-Betts is a partner of the law firm of Garber & Co. Having qualified as an English Barrister in 1986 he holds a masters degree in Commercial and Corporate Law from University College London. He was admitted as a Solicitor of England and Wales in 1996. He has worked as a part-time lecturer in law at the London Metropolitan University, in addition to delivering training to Lawyers in the United Kingdom. He has worked in the UK for many years as a Solicitor and for 5 years as one of the partners in his own firm.
In addition to his UK experience, Mr. Beoku Betts has been involved in advising and assisting with commercial transactions and agreements, in addition to negotiating complex commercial agreements. He also routinely advises on and conducts civil litigation in Sierra Leone. He also advises the Freetown City Council and other private sector companies on a range of matters including corporate law, employment and real property. He has advised business entities in matters such as employment law, property law, immigration law and company law.
He also has considerable experience working on projects which includes drafting, reviewing and negotiating PPA’s, Concession Agreements, Land Leases, Uptake agreements etc,. Advising both the Government of Sierra Leone through the Ministry of Energy and also potential investors in the private sector. He has practical knowledge of the policy legal and regulatory framework in various sectors in Sierra Leone and knowledge of the relevant stakeholders. He was responsible for advising the US embassy on their leasehold property holdings in Sierra Leone and in conducting a fixed assets and property due diligence for the proposed take-over of assets of Sierrratel.
He has experience in conducting legal due diligence and producing red flag reports for commercial entities seeking to invest in asset owning businesses in Sierra Leone. He is currently advising the Freetown City Council on the documentation required to secure title to over 70 properties owned by the Municipality. In addition, Mr Beoku-Betts has experience of sitting in quasi-judicial capacities in examination malpractice tribunals and as a member of the Bar Disciplinary Committee. He is currently sitting as a sole arbitrator in a commercial dispute.
Partner - Garber & Co
Tel. +232-76-352-656
Barrister Tamba Kellie
Tamba Kellie is a partner in the firm and a seasoned legal practitioner with over 15 years’ experience. He is the holder of an LLB degree and a graduate Diploma in International law from the University of London. In addition, he holds a Post graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Westminster University. A qualified UK Solicitor duly enrolled as a Solicitor of the Law Society of England & Wales, Mr. Kellie returned home in 2008 to establish a legal practice and sat and passed the requisite law school bar exams required by the Council of legal Education in Sierra Leone.
He was admitted as a Barrister & Solicitor of the High Court of Sierra Leone in 2008 and joined the law firm of Garber & Co in May 2010 where he served as Off-Counsel handling complex litigation and contractual matters on behalf of the firm. Barrister Kellie also served as in house counsel to the National Power Authority, the state-owned utility responsible for the generation, transmission, distribution and retail sale of electricity throughout Sierra Leone. In his role as legal adviser to the Authority and the Ministry of Energy and Water, he participated in the negotiation and drafting of several power agreements between the Authority and power providers like ADDAX BioEnergy (now Sunbird), Bumbuna II Hydro Power Project, CECA Freetown Generation Project, and a couple of emergency power arrangements.
Mr Kellie was part of the team that put together the Intergovernmental agreement between Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, for the construction, under the aegis of the West African Power Pool, of a transmission line to facilitate cross border trade in electricity between the four nations.
In 2010, the Government initiated reforms in the electricity and water sectors, culminating in the unbundling of the electricity sector into generation and transmissions and distribution, supply and retail sale of electricity and the creation of two state owned entities to perform these segregated functions. As part of the reform process, the two water utilities were mandated to operate on a commercial basis. To ensure efficient service delivery to consumers, the Sierra Leone and Water Regulatory Commission was established to regulate the provision of the highest quality of electricity and water services to consumers, of which Commission Mr Kellie became the first substantively appointed Director-General in 2015. He left the Commission in 2018 and returned to Chambers, where among other things, he handles regulatory matters on behalf of the firm.
Partner - Garber & Co
Tel. +232-88-595-299
Barrister Carl Hotobah-During
Carl Hotobah-During graduated with an honours degree in Law (LLB) from London University. He successfully completed Law School in London and was admitted as a Solicitor of England and Wales in 1995. After working for a number of London-based
criminal and civil practices, he established his own civil practice, TKD Solicitors, in 2001, presently based in Central London, in which he remains a partner, specializing in commercial and residential property, wills and probate. These specialist areas complement TKD Solicitors’ significant private client base, as this involves handling the affairs of individual clients and trustees, planning and managing various aspects of their personal wealth, onshore and offshore trusts, estate planning and tax matters.
Mr Hotobah-During was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of Sierra Leone in 1997. After a close association spanning round 10 years, he joined Garber & Co as a Senior Associate in 2016. His practice entails High Court litigation in contentious civil and commercial matters. He routinely advises our clients in commercial agreements, drafts legal documents and has been involved in negotiations of complex commercial agreements. He also handles a variety of non-contentious work such as property conveyancing and of course, wills and probate.
TAMBA GBEWA ABU
Tamba Gbewa Abu is a Barrister and Solicitor attached with Garber & Co. Solicitors & Advocates of 49 Waterloo Street, Freetown, Sierra Leone. Tamba has vast knowledge in mediation, alternative dispute resolution, with special taste for research and civil proceedings. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Fourah Bay College (University of Sierra Leone), an LLB Honours from the University of Makeni (UNIMAK), trained, qualified and certified as a Barrister and Solicitor by the Sierra Leone Law School and
he is a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of Sierra Leone.
Ms. Saio Millicent Conteh
She is a certified, trained, hardworking Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of Judicature.
Legal Research, Real Estate, Civil Advocacy, Professional mediation, legal opinion on issues, legal investigation & others
Email address: saiomillicentconteh@gmail.com
Telephone No. +23279183145
Ms Francess Gegbia
Francess Gegbai is a young lawyer who graduated with a second class upper Bachelor of Arts degree in law in 2019 from the Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone.
In 2020 she was admitted to the Sierra Leone Law School and was called to the Bar in January 2021. She graduated from the Law School with a class two certificate. During her call, she was recognized and given an award for the best Students in ‘Professional Practice, Ethics and Advocacy’.
Mr. Akram Haroun Kamara Esq
Diploma in Mass Communication BA. General in English and Literature
LLB Degree | BL Certificate | Barrister & Solicitor of the High Court of Sierra Leone.
Email address: akramharounkamara@gmail.com
Telephone No. +23231954506
Lynda B.J. John (Ms.)
Barrister and Solicitor of the Superior Courts of Sierra Leone.
Quite apart from her knowledge in Real Estate, Mitigation, Business Registration and Contractual Agreements, she also specialises in Family and Domestic Relations Laws.
Before her enrolment into law, Barrister John had worked extensively with Government, INGO’s and NGOs including: The Independent Media Commission (IMC), Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) and Sierra Leone Youth Empowerment Organisation (SLYEO).