VI. Team Profile
1. Ali Mohammed Ali - Managing Partner
Founder and Managing Partner of 5A Law , Ali Mohammed Ali has earned his Bachelor of Law /LL. B/ from Addis Ababa University, and his Master of Laws /LL.M/ from Lund University. Mr Ali is one of the leading lawyers in Ethiopia who was pivotal in contributing to the jurisprudence of the Ethiopia legal system as well as in making significant contributions to the institutional reform in federal and state courts in Ethiopia.
He first served as a Supreme Court Judge for ten years in the Amhara National Regional State. Mr Ali was also appointed as Head of Amhara National Regional State Prosecutor’s Office; and then as Head of Amhara National Regional State Anti-Corruption Office in which he served for 3 years. Mr. Ali’s remarkable achievement earned him to be Judge of the Federal Supreme Court and served at the Cassation Bench of Federal Supreme Court for over 10 years, which is the highest judicial position for any legal professional. Mr Ali has also published many articles and papers on the Ethiopian legal system and participated in legal and judicial reform at the highest level.
2. Amare Ashenafi - Deputy Managing Partner
Founder and Partner of 5A Law , Amare earned his law degree (LL.B) from Bahir Dar University, his LL.M from Mekelle University in Tax and Investment Law and two years post graduate certificate from Federal Judges and Prosecutors Training Center. In his stay in Bahir Dar University, he was Students’ Union President and Ethiopian Universities President for more than three years. He worked as a District Prosecutor, Appellate Court Presiding Judge and President. After being appointed as the Court Manger of the Federal Supreme Court, Amare oversaw the reform process of the Ethiopian Federal Court structure in case management and court management. With over 12 years of administrative and legal experience, he has advised government, national and multinational companies on reorganization, legal drafting, and investment issues. He presides as a judge in arbitration and advice clients on court cases.
3. Almaw Wolie - Partner
Founder and Partner of 5A Law , Almaw has received his Bachelor of Laws (LL. B) from Addis Ababa University in July 2000 and his Master of Laws (LL.M) in Constitutional and Public law from the same University in July 2007. He served for over 19 years in Ethiopian Judiciary on various functions. He has served as a High Court Judge for over 3 years and over 4 years as a judge of Amhara National Regional State Supreme Court. For the last 12 Years he had served as a judge at the apex of Ethiopian Judiciary- Federal Supreme Court. He also served as a Judge in the cassation division of the Federal Supreme Court, which is the highest judicial body in the country.
In his capacity as a Cassation Bench Federal Supreme Court Judge, he served as a Presiding Judge. In his capacity as a Supreme Court Judge and Presiding Judge of the Supreme Court, Almaw has helped shape the reform process including in case-flow management and court management at the Federal Courts of Ethiopia. Mr. Almaw has prepared various training materials and delivered trainings for different justice professionals in relation to practices at the Cassation Bench of Federal Supreme Court and judicial as well non-judicial aspects of business process at Federal courts.
4. Alemu Korme - Partner
Founder and Partner of 5A Law , Alemu earned his law degree (LL.B) from Addis Ababa University, his MBA from Lead Star University in collaboration with Ashland University and a two years post graduate certificate from Federal Judges and Prosecutors Training Center. He worked as an Assistant Judge in Oromia Supreme Court, and as a Judge at Addis Ababa City Administration First Instance and Appellate Court, and Ethiopian Federal Revenue Authority Legal Expert prior to founding 5A. With over 12 years legal experience, he has advised national and multinational companies on corporate and investment issues. He represented clients in arbitration and court cases. Alemu has provided training to Federal and Regional Judges on oral trial techniques in collaboration with Prison Fellowship Ethiopia. He has also lectured law at Rift Valley University on a Part-time basis.
5. Ashenafi Yirga - Partner
Founder and Partner of 5A Law , a graduate of the Law School of Bahir Dar University as an outstanding student, Ashenafi heads the Litigation Section at 5A Law . He has over 12 years of experience as a Judge in Amhara Regional State Supreme Court and Federal High Court of Ethiopia. He is a licensed by Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office as Trademark Agent. Ashenafi has an excellent grasp of Ethiopian Criminal and Civil Procedure as well as the Ethiopian commercial and investment law climate and has helped to provide decisions that contributed to the legal development and jurisprudence in Ethiopia.
6. Dr. Mesenbet Assefa - Partner
Mesenbet earned his LL.B from Bahir Dar University in 2006 and graduated with distinction. He further pursued his graduate education and studied his LL.M in 2008 at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. He received his PhD at the National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG) in 2017. Mesenbet has extensive experience in international law, comparative constitutional law, criminal law, business law, and human rights. He currently also teaches and researches in Addis Ababa University School of Law, where he teaches as Assistant Professor of Law. Mesenbet has published in numerous international and local journals. He has presented his research findings in numerous Universities including Yale School of Law, London School of Economics, and University of Seville.
His particular research interests include development, Security/counterterrorism, human rights, constitutional law and freedom of expression. Mesenbet has served in numerous positions including as Head of the School of Law Addis Ababa University, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies of Addis Ababa University School of Law. Mesenbet has also extensive experience in consulting governmental, inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations at various levels. In the recent law reform initiative of Ethiopia, Mesenbet has served as member of the Legal Reform Council in which he was instrumental in drafting the new Ethiopian Mass Media Proclamation and a lead drafter of the draft Computer Crime Proclamation.
7. Hanna Yohannes - Junior Associate
Hanna Yohannes is a Junior Associate and office manager at 5A Law . Hanna believes that excellence can be achieved through dedication, focus and hard work. Hanna earned her bachelor of law (LL. B) from Addis Ababa University. She participated in a voluntary work on various organizations like orphanage village and on elderly support. She also worked as a legal advisor in Women and Girls Support Ethiopia and as an associate at # I CARE campaign.
8. Linora Mohammed - Junior Associate
Junior Associate of 5A Law , Linora earned her law degree (LL.B) from Adigrat University as an outstanding student. In her stay at Adigrat University, she was the founder and the vice president of Human Right and Justice Club. She has participated in the 2015 Human Rights Day Moot Court Competition representing Law School of Adigrat University that was organized by the Ethiopian Human Right Commission Mekelle branch which was based on Human Trafficking. In addition to that, she has persistently took part in volunteer services in summer at Federal Attorney General as an assistant of public prosecutor at women’s and children’s office. Post-graduation she served as lecturer in Law School of Adigrat University on a full time basis.
V. Relevant Experiences of 5A Law Consultancy Group
- Roles in the Legal and Institutional Reform:
The experienced Partners at 5A Consultancy Group have extensive experience in leading legal and institutional reforms at various levels in the Ethiopian Judicial and legal reform process. They play a key role in structuring the reform process of the case flow management of the Federal Supreme Court as well as the federal High Court and First Instance Court. Since the initiation of legal and institutional reform in 2018, they have played a key role in reforming major laws and regulations in Ethiopia and participated in the institutional reform process including the reform process in the Ethiopian judiciary. These include, among others, participation in the drafting of different Proclamations as part of the legal reform and drafting Directives as well as Manuals for federal courts, and participation in the revision of business process for judicial and non-judicial court administration system. Key experiences in this regard include the following:
- Participated in the development of Sentencing Guideline to be utilized by federal courts and prosecutors. The Sentencing Guideline filled the gap in the FDRE Criminal Code and served as a basis for ensuring consistency in imposing sanctions on criminally convicted individuals;
- Participated in the design and implementation of Cassation Bench System in Ethiopia. In this regard, Partners at 5A Law Consultancy Group played critical role in gathering relevant experiences on the establishment and organizational setup of Cassation Bench from various jurisdictions (including France) and took a key role in the development of the procedure and implementation of Cassation Bench under the Ethiopian judicial system;
- Participated in development of training manual for case-flow management system for Federal and Regional Courts. This included development of the case management system, development of a training manual and participation in the implementation of the system through provision of trainings to judicial and admin staff at federal and regional level;
- Participated in the preparation of in-service training module for judges and prosecutors at Federal and Regional level on “The Essence of Constitution of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia”. This training module has since been used by the Federal Justice and Legal System Reform Institute as a training material;
- Participated (and currently participating) in the National Legal Reform Council of Ethiopia as a member, including participation in drafting the new Media Law; and
- Participated as a National Coordinator for the Africa Online Library Law Project which resulted in the publication of the first volume of court decision of Ethiopian courts in English- the first of its kind in the country.
- Roles in Capacity Building and Change Management
Partners at 5A Law Consultancy Group have significant experiences and have played crucial roles in capacity building and change management of judicial organs ranging from Federal and Regional Courts to Public Prosecutors and law enforcement bodies. Some of the major roles taken by Partners at 5A Law Consultancy Group in this regard are listed below:
- Participated in development and deployment of strategic plan for all Federal Courts. This role included participation in development of the strategic plan in collaboration with various stakeholders of the judicial system as well as dissemination of the plan and provision of trainings to members of the judiciary;
- Participated in the development and implementation of change management for First Instance, High Court and Supreme Courts. This included engagement with stakeholders as well as preparation change management training material and provision of trainings to judicial and non-judicial employees of all Federal Courts;
- Participated in the formulation of organizational structure of Federal Court System, which included formulating the structure and training material in line with the organizational structure, and provision of training to judicial and admin employees of Federal courts;
- Participated in the formulation of “Case-flow Management System” for Federal Courts, which included the preparation of the system, stakeholders engagement for feedbacks, implementation of the system as well as provision of training to Federal Courts employees;
- Led the preparation of “Citizens’ Charter” for all services provided by Federal Courts, which included formulation business processes and respective requirements and timeline for provision of each service, and provision of trainings to stakeholders; and
- Participated in the management of Federal Courts’ CCMS system in coordination Information Technology Head of Federal Courts.
- Roles in Mentoring Key Users and Leadership
Partners at 5A Law Consultancy Group have immense experiences in mentoring and leading judicial as well as non-judicial arms of Federal Courts, as they had taken different leadership position at various federal and regional judicial organs, which includes the positions of Court Manager, First Instance and High Court Judges and Presidents, and Head of Court Registrar. While on these positions, Partners at 5A Law Consultancy Group have provided some mentorship and exercise leadership roles on various programs and projects including:
- Provision of training on Sentencing to federal and regional judges, and provision of training on Federal Supreme Court Cassation Practices to Federal High Court Judges;
- Preparation of training material and provision of training to Federal and Amhara Regional State’s judicial personnel on Case flow Management System;
- Preparation of training material and provision of training on Criminal Procedure Code and Protection of Human Rights to Federal Supreme Court State Defense Lawyers;
- Led a team established for the development and implementation of Citizens’ Charter for all services provided by Federal Courts; and
- Led Change Management Initiative at Federal Supreme Court, which included preparing training materials and provision of training to Federal Courts’ employees.
