President's Blog, September 2025
Posted: 12 Sep 2025 by IAFL
Welcome to my last Blog! I am sending this while your wonderful new President, Heather Hostetter, is in Mumbai (with your equally wonderful new President Elect, Suzanne Todd) doing a site visit to finalise arrangements for the AGM to take place in 2027. Heather is going to be a spectacular President, and you are in very safe hands. When she returns she will give you a little detail about the objectives she has set herself for her term.
I demitted office last Saturday in Nairobi, after an incredible meeting that will stay with me for many years to come. It was such a joy to be joined by so many people from across Africa, including eight of our Early Career Award winners from 2024/2025. I appreciate I am biased, but I consider that our speakers have set a new high bar for our meetings, covering the whole gamut of family law topics, including money, children and human rights. We were honoured to be joined by the Chief Justices of Kenya and Montenegro and Constitutional Court judges from South Africa and Serbia, as well as Judge Mocumie from the Supreme Court of Appeal in South Africa, who you may recall gave our Audrey Ducroux memorial lecture in Marrakech in 2022.
Judge Mocumie had challenged us then to make progress with the creation of an African Chapter of the Academy, and work will begin in earnest now to bring that vision to life. From 10 fellows in Africa a decade ago - all in South Africa - we now have 31 fellows in 9 different jurisdictions, and the energy and enthusiasm for growing the Academy in Africa is palpable.
It was very poignant to be in Nairobi for the AGM, coming after the untimely death of our first Kenyan fellow, Judy Thongori SC, in January this year. Judy had been looking forward to us coming to Nairobi, and it was important for us to be able to welcome her widower, John, and her children, Eric and Tracy, to hear both how highly she was regarded around the world, and the tribute from Faith Odhiambo, the President of the Law Society of Kenya.
I have had an amazing two years as President, and it’s been an honour to serve the Academy - thank you for having me. I wanted to capture some of the things that we have achieved and of which I am very proud, so, for the first time, we have published an Annual Impact Report, which you can find here.
You can see some facts and figures about the Academy - we now have fellows in 124 different jurisdictions across the world - and some highlights from my term of office, which include the significant strides we have made to work with other organisations and to support family lawyers of the future. None of the work could have been done without the incredible commitment of so many of our fellows, most of whom do the work under the radar and without acclaim. I said last weekend that I couldn’t thank you all individually or I would have been there all night, but you know who you are and how grateful I am to you.
Rachael Kelsey
