By a letter dated May 5, 2008 the Board of Bar Examiners has notified Mathias Kwasi Yakah that he will be allowed to sit for the Massachusetts Bar Examination. In the past, applicants from outside the United States were frequently refused permission to sit for the examination.

This case was originated by the Volunteer Lawyers Project. William F. Looney, Jr. and Charles P. Kindregan, Partners at Looney & Grossman LLP, represented Mr. Yakah before the BBE and the Supreme Judicial Court. Mathias Kwasi Yakah received his legal education in Ghana, a country which uses an English common law system. Mr. Yakah also obtained a Master of Laws Degree from New England School of Law. Attorneys Looney and Kindregan hope this will lead to wider recognition of the eligibility of foreign attorneys to sit for the Massachusetts bar examination in appropriate cases.