Professor Richard Frimpong Oppong joined the faculty at Osgoode Hall Law School in 2024. He has taught in the USA and UK and at Thompson Rivers University. He completed his PhD at the University of British Columbia and Post-doctoral studies at the Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University. He holds a Master of Laws degree from Harvard Law School, a first-class Master of Laws degree in Commercial Law from the University of Cambridge, and a first-class Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Ghana. He was called to the Ghana Bar in October 2003 after completing the professional law course at the Ghana School of Law with distinction. He received the John Mensah Sarbah Certificate of Honour and the Charles Mensah-Cann Memorial Prize awarded to the best graduating student there.
Professor Oppong is a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists, and an Associate Member of the International Academy of Comparative Law. He was a member of the Working Group of The Hague Conference on Private International Law that drafted The Hague Principles on Choice of Law in International Commercial Contracts, 2015. The Curatorium of The Hague Academy of International Law has selected him to deliver a special Course, comprising five magisterial lectures, during the private international law session in the summer of 2026. Before this, he served as the Director of Studies at The Hague Academy of International Law during the private international law session in the summer of 2012. He is the Program Advisor to the Tanzanian-German Centre for Eastern African Legal Studies which offers LLM and PhD programs on East African integration.
Professor Oppong maintains research and teaching interests in private international law, international arbitration, contract law, domestic and international sale of goods law, and regional trade and economic integration in Africa. He has published widely and made outstanding contributions to advancing the law with his scholarship. He has published eight books (comprising four sole-authored books, two co-authored books and two co-edited books) and over 55 articles, book chapters, and book reviews.
Professor Oppong’s internationally excellent research outputs have been variously described by independent reviewers in book reviews as “tackling a major problem of long-term interest”; “offering innovative insights”; “a remarkable tour de force”; “ambitious and methodologically executed”; “clear and authoritative”; “instructive, illuminating, lucid, thoroughly researched”; “clear, accessible, informed and informative”; and as of “practical value” and of “exceptional quality”. Two of his publications have won international awards: the 2013 American Society of International Law Prize in Private International Law and the 2014 James Crawford Prize of the Journal of International Dispute Settlement. In 2011, he was nominated for the prestigious Hessel Yntema Prize of the American Journal of Comparative Law. Some of his books and journal articles have been translated into French and Chinese. He is frequently cited in academic publications and judicial decisions.
Professor Oppong’s research has been funded by external funding from funding bodies such as the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Killam Trusts, the Foundation for Legal Research in Canada and the British Academy,
Professor Oppong has been invited to peer-reviewed articles and books for more than 20 journals and publishers. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Yearbook of Private International Law and the Journal of Private International Law. He is an Assistant Editor of the Global Journal of Comparative Law.
Research Interests: Private International Law, International Arbitration, Contract Law, International and Domestic Sale of Goods Law, and Regional Economic Integration in Africa.
On leave for the current academic year.
Graduate Research Supervision (LLM, PhD): I am interested in supervising topics related to Private International Law, International Arbitration, Contract Law, International and Domestic Sale of Goods Law, and Regional Economic Integration in Africa.