Pan African Lawyers Union seminar set for October 12
The 7th Annual Conference of the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU) Africa’s foremost Lawyers’ gathering, is slated for October 12 to October 15 at Nairobi, Kenya.
The conference would be attended by Africa’s lawyers and lawyers’ associations as well as law firms, human rights and good governance professionals to discuss the most pertinent issues in corporate and commercial law on the continent.
A conference working document made available to the Ghana News Agency in Accra by Ms Jancelline Amsi, PALU Information and Communication Technology Officer, mentioned other issues to be discussed during the four day conference as strategies for Asset Recovery litigation.
It said the conference would also expose participants to the draft PALU Code of Ethics on Anti-Corruption and Professional Compliance Standards for Lawyers.
It would also analyse the link between Corruption and Illicit Financial Flows, especially in the extractive industry in Africa.
Other issues to be discussed include Business and Human Rights, especially practical implications of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights for lawyers in Africa and their clients.
Also on the agenda is the African Mining Vision of the African Union, whilst there would be a session on structuring contracts in the extractives (oil, gas and minerals) sector.
The section on Legal Practice, would provide an exposition on structuring international law firm alliances; analyse the growing opportunities for Arbitration practice in Africa; discuss the impact of New Technologies for the Legal Profession; and introduce the use of Plea Bargaining.
It would assess the development and implementation of regional standards on the right to a fair trial in criminal proceedings as well as hold a high level panel discussion on Law, Peace and Security in Africa (including the African Peace and Security Architecture.
According to the working document, a section on Public Interest and Development Law would discuss emerging strategies for protecting lawyers, journalists and Human Rights Defenders, who are increasingly being killed, unlawfully detained or harassed as they perform their duties.
It would then highlight opportunities for lawyers and lawyers’ associations in the African Governance Architecture; analyse the challenges from the resurgence of lifting of Presidential Term Limits and the impact of Unconstitutional Changes of Government.
The PALU conference would also focus on the impact of International Criminal Justice in Africa, and the prospects for national prosecutions using international criminal law.
In the African Union’s Year of Human Rights, with a Special focus on the Rights of Women, our Women Lawyers’ Forum would host a high level panel on the Status of Women in the Legal Profession in Africa, as well as a Session on litigating the Maputo Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa.
The Conference would be attended by more than 300 of Africa’s leading lawyers to discuss matters germane/pertinent to the practice of law, protection of human rights, as well as economic, political and social development of the continent.
The African Union, the Regional Economic Communities, the African Development Bank and other Multi-lateral Development Banks on the continent would participate as observers while others from Europe and the United States interested in doing business and networking with lawyers from Africa.
PALU is a continental membership forum for African lawyers and lawyers’ associations.
It was founded in 2002, by African Bar leaders and eminent lawyers, to reflect the aspirations and concerns of the African people and to promote and defend their shared interests.
It brings together the continent’s five regional lawyers’ associations, more than 54 national lawyers’ associations and individual lawyers.
Source: GNA