What is International Lawyers for Africa (ILFA)?
ILFA is a pro bono/Corporate Social Responsibility initiative launched in 2006 by leading International law firms to contribute to the development of legal skills and expertise of African lawyers. ILFA provides 3 months of high quality work experience in leading UK international law firms and training in international law and key legal practice skills. The programme runs from the beginning of September to the end of November each year.
The placements offer an annual curriculum of the most relevant parts of the participating law firms' existing training programs. These include banking, project finance, and capital markets as well as talks and lectures from international lawyers from leading universities and international institutions.
ILFA grows annually, creating a far reaching legal network of African lawyers capable of providing guidance for anyone seeking commercial legal advice in Africa and preventing the exodus of work from the continent to more established international legal centres.
The reputation of and respect for ILFA continues to grow not only in the UK but worldwide. ILFA has gone from strength to strength and from the initial 9 participating countries, this year 17 African countries are competing for placements on the ILFA programme; Botswana, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Namibia, Malawi, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
