What a Year!

Since April 2018 the Africa Legal team has worked to establish links between the legal communities of Africa’s 54 countries.

By introducing the people who practise law and telling their stories, our goal remains shining a light on common ground and reflecting shared challenges.

The thread running through all we do is to support the work of lawyers building economies, upholding justice and fighting for democracy.

At this time of reflection and review we can tell our supporters that we now have nine journalists spread across east, west and southern Africa. Combined, these nine writers have more than 100 years of experience – most of it covering law in Africa. This year they produced 220 articles for the Africa Legal platform.

What has enabled us to establish our pan-Africa network is the wonderful “monster” of social media. Here our campaigns reached 10 million people – introducing them to colleagues doing similar work in other nations. Our website now has 100,000 visitors actively looking for our articles and campaigns.

However, we are nothing without our supporters. For this we must thank the likes of Hogan Lovells, Mayer Brown, Aelex, Manokore Attorneys, Barbri International, Thomson Reuters, Webber Wentzel, AFGRI, Bytelex, Rupert Candy Attorneys and Miranda & Associados.

We share our values and our passion for law and Africa with our partners which include the University of Cape Town’s Law@work programme, the Investing in African Mining Indaba, the Legal Innovation and Tech Fest, the African Legal Awards, and the British Nigeria Law Forum (BNLF).

We would also like to acknowledge the team working for our charity partner, Save the Children, who do so much for the children of Africa.

And now, for a look at our top read stories for the year in no specific order:

* An interview with Rob Dudley, the director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at BARBRI International. Rob discussed how African lawyers could become registered in multiple jurisdictions. Read more here

* A focus on African lawyers practising in Britain and the US

* An interview by Kenyan journalist Judy Waguma with Thomas Louis Abira, the Legal Counsel and Manager at Safaricom

* An interview with ǼLEX partner Funke Adekoyam in Nigeria, by veteran South African writer Tania Broughton

* A conversation with Naomi Amobi is the Legal and Regulatory Counsel at Paystack, a fintech company in Nigeria, written by Africa Legal stalwart Ifeoluwa Ogunbufunmi

* A conversation with Tanzanian former presidential aide Togolani Mavura by Tony Carnie about his work with Save the Children

* An interview with South African attorney Debbie Wybrow on cross cultural adoptions by Tania Broughton

* Nigerian lawyer Rilwan Shittu’s blog about how law graduates can live up to their aspirations and succeed despite a glut of lawyers and rising unemployment

* An interview with Egbiri Egbiri, a principal legal counsel with the African Development Bank (AfDB), by Ife Ogunbufunmi

* A conversation with Derin Adefulu the Head of Legal for the insurance giant, Old Mutual Nigeria, with Ife Ogunbufunmi

Watch our 2019 wrap up video here

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