Ade Renner Thomas is the former Chief Justice

Chief Justice

The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...

 of Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...

. An ethnic Creole

Sierra Leone Creole people

The Sierra Leone Creoles, or Krios, are an ethnic group in Sierra Leone, descendants of West Indian slaves from the Caribbean, primarily from Jamaica; freed African American slaves from the Thirteen Colonies resettled from Nova Scotia; and Liberated Africans from various parts of Africa...

, Thomas was born and raised in Freetown

Freetown

Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean located in the Western Area of the country, and had a city proper population of 772,873 at the 2004 census. The city is the economic, financial, and cultural center of...

, Sierra Leone's capital. He later obtained a Ph.D. in land law. He was appointed to the position of chief justice by former president, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah

Ahmad Tejan Kabbah

Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah served as President of Sierra Leone from 1996 to 1997 and again from 1998 to 2007.He worked for the United Nations Development Programme and returned to Sierra Leone in 1992...

. In 2008 Renner-Thomas retired as chief justice. The president Ernest Bai Koroma

Ernest Bai Koroma

Ernest Bai Koroma is the fourth and current President of Sierra Leone. He was sworn in as President on 17 September 2007 at the State House in the capital Freetown, shortly after being declared the winner of a tense run-off in the 2007 Sierra Leone presidential election with 54.6% of the vote over...

 appointed Umu Hawa Tejan Jalloh

Umu Hawa Tejan Jalloh

Haja Umu Hawa Tejan Jalloh is the current Chief Justice of Sierra Leone. She was sworn in as Sierra Leone's new Chief Justice on January 26, 2008 after being appointed by president Ernest Bai Koroma with the approval of the Sierra Leone Parliament to replace outgoing Chief Justice Ade Renner Thomas...

as his successor. He currently works as a lawyer in Freetown.