Dr. Theophilus Edwin Coleman

Dr. Theophilus Edwin Coleman earned his BA in Political Science and Information Studies in 2012 at the University of Ghana. In 2016, he graduated with his LLB degree (summa cum laude) from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. The following year, Theophilus earned his LLM in International Commercial Law (summa cum laude) from the University of Johannesburg. In 2018, he was awarded the Global Excellence Stature Scholarship (GES) from the University of Johannesburg to pursue his Doctor of Laws (LLD). He completed his Doctor of Laws (LLD) degree in 2020.

Coleman is an alumnus of The Hague Academy of International Law in the Netherlands and completed an internship at the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), also in the Netherlands. He has also served as a Research Fellow at the Institute of European Law in Saarland, Germany.

Coleman currently works at the University at Buffalo School of Law, Buffalo, New York (USA) as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, where he teaches employment law, conflict of laws, Uniform Commercial Code (Sales, Secured Transactions, Controllable Electronic Records), Remedies, among others. He is also a Senior Research Associate at the Research Centre for Private International Law in Emerging Countries (RCPILEC), South Africa. Additionally, Coleman serves as an adjunct lecturer at the University of Ghana School of Law, Accra, Ghana, where he teaches labor and employment law in the LLM program. He previously served as a Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for International and Comparative Labor and Social Security Law (CICLASS) in South Africa and a Lecturer for Practical Business Law at the Faculty of Law at the University of Johannesburg.

Coleman’s research focuses on inequality in international private law, especially the intersection of private international law and employment in the era of artificial intelligence. He also publishes on labor and employment law, contract law, international commercial law, conflict of laws, and African legal philosophy. Coleman is the co-author of the leading and authoritative textbook on labor and employment law in Ghana, published by LexisNexis.

Coleman is a member of the African Labour Law Society (ALLS), the International Human Rights Group (under the auspices of the Human Rights Centre of Central South University, China), the South African Society for Labour Law (SASLAW), and the International Law Association (ILA). He also served as an editor for the Private International Law Interest Group of the American Association of International Law 2024 Newsletter. Coleman has also served as a reviewer for several journals and publishers, such as the Journal of Comparative Law in Africa, Journal for Juridical Sciences, South African Public Law, among others.