Justice Advocacy Africa strives, through its trial advocacy training programs, to help African lawyers to bring an abundance of justice to their legal institutions. Justice Advocacy Africa is a non-profit organization founded to promote confidence in and respect for legal institutions in African countries through providing professional advocacy training for African lawyers. We have operated trial
advocacy training programs in Africa in Malawi, Botswana, Kenya and Uganda using experienced trial lawyers and trial advocacy trainers from the United States to assist with the training and train African lawyers to carry on the programs. JAA trains African lawyers to become instructors of advocacy so that the training programs become self-sustaining in the future without the need for JAA volunteers from the United States. JAA works to accomplish sustainability of its programs by partnering with African organizations to sponsor the trial advocacy training programs. The training involves participatory, interactive instruction in trial advocacy skills focusing on ethical advocacy and obtaining justice through invoking the rule of law, rather than obtaining an outcome through extrajudicial conduct. The programs are unique in African legal education in that they use an interactive participatory training approach pioneered by the National Institute for Trial Advocacy called “Learn By Doing.” The participants in the program don’t just listen to lectures, they actually practice skills using mock case files and receive feedback about their performances. Through mock trials participants practice opening and closing statements and witness examination. They also learn by watching other students perform and by listening to feedback of instructors. The performances are videotaped so participants review their own performances. This method of instruction has been enthusiastically received. Some of the participants have reported that the program has changed their lives. Justice Advocacy Africa promotes pro bono representation of indigent clients by African lawyers who participate in the programs. We discuss integration of pro bono representation into the practice of law, and ask the participants to pledge to undertake pro bono representation in return for the education they receive in the program. Because our volunteer instructors are not paid, and pay their own expenses, we have the ability to advocate to the participants to “pay it forward” for what they receive from the training programs.
