YORM Ama Abledu is an energy professional and a legal academic who teaches energy law among other modules at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA Law School). She holds a postgraduate degree in oil and gas law (international investment arbitration) from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, where her outstanding academic performance won her the Ede & Ravenscroft 2014 Prize for Academic Excellence. Within the same period, Yorm attained certification from the Oil and Gas Academy of Scotland as an oil and gas contract negotiator. Over the past 7 years, she has achieved enormous success in oil and gas cases in Ghana. Yorm has a demonstrated history of championing compliance in oil and gas companies, project management, and legal entity management in the oil and gas and power sectors in Africa. She is a senior international attorney at Centurion Law Group, a pan-African law firm headquartered in Johannesburg with offices and partners across Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, focused on energy and tax law practice. She is also a member of the AIEN (Association of Energy Negotiators, formerly formerly Association of Petroleum Negotiators).

A Harvard-certified negotiator, she has significant expertise that cuts across diverse sectors such as project finance, energy, infrastructure development, tax, real estate, and other key practice areas.

Yorm has provided advice on a variety of high-profile transactions, both domestically and abroad. She has been on various legal panels as a speaker or moderator and has significantly contributed to very important and topical issues in the energy industry, including the recent panel discussion on the role of the youth as drivers of the advancement of the African energy industry, energy transition, and the empowerment of the African people through the sustainable exploration of natural resources at the just-ended African Energy Week in Cape Town and also the panel on "the Future of Energy in the Carbon Era" organized by the British Ghanaian Lawyer’s Union (BGLU) in 2021.

Yorm is also certified in human rights and oil and gas law from Fordham University. Her passion for human rights law is reflected in how she has so far won a total of 57 human rights cases on behalf of several indigents over a 12-month period in her position as Assistant Public Defender under the Legal Aid Commission, where she continues her pro-bono service.

She is a human rights advocate with a particular interest in the diversity and inclusion of women in the energy sector. Her passion for helping others has led to further voluntary work as the Policy and Advocacy Team Lead of the African Women in Energy Development Initiative (AWEDI), where she advocates for the inclusion of female professionals in the energy sector.

She recently received a global honor, the 2022 International Bar Association (IBA) Outstanding Young Lawyer Award, in recognition of her work mentoring the next generation of legal minds, her dedication to professional and ethical standards, and her service to the country at large. "With this rare feat, she becomes the only Ghanaian female lawyer and the first female African lawyer to have been honored with this prestigious award." Yorm was appointed the African Regional Form Officer of the IBA’s Young Lawyer’s Committee, where she serves as a liaison between the Bar Associations in Africa and the Young Lawyer's Committee of the IBA.

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We would love to hear more from you, reach out to us on Instagram @sister_in_law_ and learn more about Yorm and the work she does @the_yorm

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