The Leitner Center hosted a visit by Her Ladyship Mrs. Georgina Theodora Wood, the Chief Justice of Ghana and first female Chief Justice in the Ghana’s history, from April 6 through 12, 2008. The Center also had the privilege of hosting KNUST Lecturer in Law Ernest Abotsi, the Center's partner on the International Development Project, Police Prosecutor Training Workshop, Supreme Court Clerkship, and student internship programs, who accompanied Her Ladyship and met with many Fordham Law faculty and students throughout their visit.
During her visit, Chief Justice Wood delivered a lecture at the law school, entitled “The Dynamic of Law and Development in Ghana: The Case for Judicial Reform in an Emergent Democracy.” Chief Justice Wood also attended the Sandra Day O'Connor Project on the State of the Judiciary Symposium on Judicial Selection, hosted by Fordham Law School’s Stein Center for Law and Ethics, at which she met privately with US Supreme Court Justices Hon. Sandra Day O'Connor and Hon. Stephen Breyer to discuss the role of Supreme Courts and the challenges facing the judiciary in both countries.

Her Ladyship also visited Washington D.C. for meetings with US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Stephen Breyer. Fordham Law Dean William Michael Treanor accompanied her on her trip, along with Leitner Center Faculty Co-Director Tracy Higgins and Sustainable Development Legal Initiative (SDLI) Director Paolo Galizzi. The visit, coordinated by Professor Galizzi and Supreme Court Fellow and Fordham Law graduate Carolyn Dubay '95 also included meetings with representatives of the Federal Judicial Center in DC. Upon returning to New York, her Ladyship enjoyed additional meetings at the United Nations, and the Center for Court Innovation in New York City.

Throughout her visit, Justice Wood encouraged a continued exchange of ideas and embraced the idea of future cooperation between Ghana and the US, extending invitations to US Justices and Fordham Faculty to visit Ghana, the first such visit of will be organized by the fall of 2008. The Chief Justice’s visit marks a great highlight in the Leitner Center’s relationship with the Ghanaian Judicial Service, one of our primary development partners.