The long-standing hope among stakeholders of the showbiz fraternity that Ghana’s entertainment industry would get the services of qualified lawyers who understand the business of entertainment has gotten a boost, as Sandra Ankobiah, host of Fashion 101, has been called to the Ghana bar, and is now a lawyer.
Speaking in an interview with News-One, Sandra Ankobiah opened her arms to handling cases pertaining to entertainment and not just other cases.
“Why not, I will handle entertainment cases,” she said and promised not to abandon the entertainment industry, especially her Fashion 101, a TV Magazine show.
“There is Entertainment Law, and it encompasses all of the legal problems and issues most commonly faced by a variety of related industries, including film, television, radio, music recording, publishing, theater, and sports. The areas of law most frequently associated with this field are intellectual property, agency, antitrust, contracts, and labor and employment.
And although I specialized in International and Commercial Law, I studied most of the courses under Entertainment Law during my LLB and LLM. Courses such as Intellectual Property, Antitrust, and Contract and fortunately, Entertainment Law are predominantly Contract and Intellectual Property based.
“My aim now is to provide legal services to the entertainment industry- services such as Contract Drafting, Negotiation and Mediation, and of course Litigation, if the need arises.
“I believe the reason why Entertainment Law is not big in this country is due to the fact that our industry is not big. It’s a very young industry which doesn’t make use of legal services/lawyers. I have seen and heard of actors/artistes, etc. who enter into agreements/deals without any form of contracts and later have problems when breaches occur.
“Time for all industry players to get more professional by engaging legal services and I am pleased to offer my services. Although young and new at the Bar, I have the drive, determination, skills, and passion to provide the best quality services to my clients. The industry is growing and I would like to grow with it,” she added.
The beautiful lady who is also a model was among some 39 lawyers who were inducted into the Ghana bar by Her Ladyship Chief Justice Georgina Wood at a meeting of the General Legal Council in Accra on Friday, April 12.
Like the other lawyers, she took an undertaking to be of good behaviour, and adhere to the general ethics of the profession.
She has flirted with Ghana’s showbiz industry for a long time and better understands the issues. Hence there are high hopes that she will be handling cases pertaining to the industry.
Her feat is currently being hailed by many Ghanaian entertainment stakeholders.
Minutes after the induction ceremony last Friday, a number of them joined her at a party held on her behalf at the Golden Tulip Hotel to celebrate her success.
Among them were Yvonne Okoro, D Black, Nana Boroo, Mugeez, Roseline Okoro, Chester Ani, Fred Nuamah, 4×4’s Coded, Deborah Vanessah and a host of others.
Sandra entered the reception grounds full of smiles while she was welcomed with flashes from media cameras. She hugged some guests who made it to the reception. After a short prayer and words of encouragement headed by Chester, there was nothing left but to eat and drink while they posed for the cameras.
Sandra has indeed raised the bar with her new calling and she has proven that there is indeed brain behind her beauty. Besides her attainment in entertainment, she is a graduate with multiple degrees in Law.
Sandra is a former student of the Akosombo International School, and also holds a degree from the University of Buckingham, UK (LLB). She acquired an LLM (Masters in Law) in International and Commercial Law before entering the Ghana School of Law, Makola, Accra.
Finally, she has made her way onto Ghana’s legal frontiers and observers have no choice but to say congratulations. Sandra echoes essence, style, quality, wits, glamour and humour. Her peers describe her as an “elegant, young fashionista who strongly believes in the importance of looking good”.
A runner-up in the 2002 edition of the Miss Ghana and Miss ECOWAS beauty pageants, the past decade has seen her do pretty awesome stuff in the line of fashion, modeling for renowned designers such as Kofi Ansah among others.
In 2000, she was one of the faces used by Ghana Textiles Print (GTP) for their numerous advertising campaigns. Between 2004 and 2007, she operated Sandra’s, a high-end fashion boutique in Dzorwulu that set trends and managed to give clothing a face-lift. But in all, education is also a priority for her.