About International Lawyers for Africa

ILFA's mission is to provide work experience in top International Law firms and training in International Law and key legal practice skills to scholarship candidates chosen on a competitive basis from across Africa.

 

International Lawyers for Africa Project ("ILFA") was launched in March 2006 to give lawyers from Africa a grounding in specialist skills for International Lawyers.

 

International law is at the heart of issues which directly affect African nations ranging from debt relief to human rights, fair trade and the elimination of corruption and the protection of the environment.

 

ILFA aims to equip developing nations with the most skilled representatives to work for them in their dialogue with the G8 group of countries and international institutions.

 

To achieve this, ILFA will assist in providing placements in major city and international law firms for candidates drawn from African nations. The placements will offer a curriculum for around 30 candidates annually to rotate through a combination of the most relevant parts of existing law firm training programs, such as banking, project finance, and capital markets as well as talks and lectures from international lawyers from leading universities and amongst the relevant international institutions.

 

Placements are offered through an in-country competitive program to find the most suitable potential candidates. Successful candidates are placed with law firms who sponsor them individually by providing them with relevant in-house experience along the lines of a compressed training contract over a period of 3 months.

 

ILFA 2009

The 2009 International Lawyers for Africa Programme drew to conclusion with a spectacular gala dinner held at the Law Society in London's Chancery Lane. ILFA was proud to host Dr Mo Ibrahim of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation as its Guest of Honour; together with special guests, Rt. Honourable Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Mrs Justice Linda Dobbs DBE and Mr Justice Blair QC. Dr Ibrahim gave a short speech before presenting this year's candidates with their ILFA certificates.

 

A thoroughly engaging Keynote address was given by the Hon. Mr Olusupo Shasore SAN Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of Lagos, Nigeria. The speech centred on what the Attorney General refers to as the “African Conversation” in international law and development; the relationship between legal development and economic growth. To read the speech please click here.