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“The Books for Africa Jack Mason Law & Democracy Initiative is a truly remarkable and visionary endeavor,” said Donna Gollmer, director of ABA Publishing. “The opportunity to join Thomson Reuters in supporting Books for Africa by providing court systems, bar associations, women’s legal organizations and law schools across Africa with essential law books is a powerful way to support both the Rule of Law and access to justice.”

Leighton traveled to Ghana recently for the Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Conference. During his trip, he was able to visit three organizations that received law libraries through the program: the Ghana Supreme Court, the Ghana Book Trust, and the Ghana Federation of Women Lawyers.

A law book can change a life. Donations from 117 law libraries to 24 African countries have changed millions of lives and helped to establish the rule of law across the continent, says Lane Ayres, director of the Jack Mason Law & Democracy Initiative of Books for Africa.

On the occasion of its Georgia warehouse party, Books For Africa received a set of 10 Law & Democracy Libraries from its partner, Thomson Reuters. Executive Director Pat Plonski and Board President Mike Essien were on site to observe the delivery.

The Jack Mason Law & Democracy Initiative began as a result of the chance meeting of two neighbors, who just happened to be lawyers, at a neighborhood potluck back in 2008. Lane Ayres is a retired assistant Hennepin County attorney. Tom Pfeifer is an executive at Thomson Reuters.

In March of 2021 the Gambian Ministry of Justice sent photos and information about the Thomson Reuters reference law library we had sent them. We at Books For Africa were excited to receive this information as it completes a story started 15 months before.