Legal profession maturing in Malawi—MLS
The Malawi Law Society (MLS) says the country’s legal profession is maturing as such practitioners need to seize the opportunity to clear traits that may taint the industry.
MLS president Patrick Mpaka said this in an interview on Thursday ahead of the 2022 African Bar Association (Afba) annual conference the society will host from August 7 to 11 in Lilongwe.
President Lazarus Chakwera will open the conference on August 8 2022 while Liberia’s Vice-President Jewel Howard Taylor will deliver a keynote speech.
Mpaka said it was a great privilege for MLS to host the continent’s biggest gathering of legal minds considering that competed with other equally befitting associations.
He said: “This is the kind of respect a legal profession must command to sustain the trust placed upon the profession in the country’s laws to make Malawi rule of law compliant.”
“With this recognition the legal profession shall collectively be able to maintain the standard we have set as a leadership. We hope the public in Malawi will continue to trust and depend on the legal system for relevant guidance.”
The MLS president said apart from reflecting on legal issues, the conference would also present an opportunity for showcasing Malawi’s tourism, culture and trade, among others.
In his message ahead of the event, Afba president Hannibal Uwaifo said the conference offers an opportunity for lawyers, judges, politicians, the business community and experts from all fields of endeavour to gather, dissect and proffer solutions to the myriad challenges confronting Africa.
The conference is expected to bring together 900 delegates from across the world with some serving and past Heads of States and eminent Africans expected to be decorated with the 2022 African Bar Merit Medals for their service to the continent in areas of good governance, promotion and protection of the rule of law, human rights and support to the legal profession.
The conference will be hosted under the theme ‘Instituting an Enduring Legacy of Transparent and Accountable Governance in Africa: Basic Issues and Roadmap’.
Afba was established in 1971 as a professional body uniting individual lawyers and national legal associations in Africa. The past two years the annual conference was hosted by the Niger Republic.
