President's Blog August 2025
Posted: 15 Aug 2025 by
I’m looking forward to seeing many of you in Nairobi next month! It’s not too late to come if you haven’t registered, but we only have a few spaces left, so don’t dawdle! You can register here.
Even if you can’t come, please do think about donating a billable hour to support the Symposium that we are having the day before the meeting, which is designed to raise the profile of the Academy in East Africa, in particular, and to bring lawyers, judges and NGOs together to get first class education on International Family Law. Your support allows us to offer reduced registration to people from jurisdictions that are under or unrepresented, in Africa and beyond. You can find the link to donate here. Thank you to those who have already donated.
It’s very exciting that we are also able to host a day for law students from the 7 law schools in Nairobi on the Monday. We have 200 students coming to Riara University Law School to ‘engage on emerging and practical issues in family law whilst promoting comparative learning and an understanding of global best practice’. Part of the day will be an opportunity for more senior lawyers from Kenya and IAFL fellows to provide mentorship and encouragement to the law students (and we are hoping for a little of their energy and passion in return!). I am incredibly grateful to Pam Sloan and her firm, Aronson Mayefsky & Sloan, for funding the day.
It's wonderful to be able to bring the Academy to Africa again, and to Kenya for the first time. I have been doing some work recently on the Annual Report that we will be publishing for the first time this year and was struck that a decade ago we only had fellows in South Africa, whereas we now have 31 Fellows in 8 different jurisdictions in Africa, with 3 of those Fellows in Kenya. Many of you will recall meeting our first Kenyan Fellow, the late Judy Thongori SC, in Boston last year. We will be dedicating the meeting to her memory and going to her favourite restaurant, Ankole, which is in the beautiful Kitisuru forest, close to the hotel.
The Education we have planned is truly exceptional and we have a significant cohort of Supreme and Constitutional Court Judges from around the world, along with practitioners, academics and others from 26 different jurisdictions. Do take a moment to look at the programme here.
Beyond the planning for Nairobi, we been working on the creation of the new IAFL Family Law Institute, which is being led by Jill Hersh with support from Sarah Hoskinson and Adelaide Benneh Prempeh, and many fellows who will provide education on international family law for lawyers who are around 6-7 years qualified and interested in deepening their family law practice and developing their international networks. We will have our first cohort of participants this year, with the course starting on 30th September 2025. The deadline for applications is Monday 18th August 2025, so do pass on details to Associates in your firms or Bars who might want to apply.
Looking forward to seeing many of you in Nairobi and meantime, I hope that you are all able to get some time off in August - whether a northern hemisphere summer or a southern hemisphere coorie in!
Rachael
