Students at The Law School of Tanzania in Dar es Salaam will receive lectures in legal drafting from a team of specialist lawyers from around the world starting on 14 June for two weeks. The bespoke training module is one of several to be delivered to the future generation of lawyers in Tanzania and is part of a successful programme developed by the Law School, with the  assistance of the pro bono charity International Lawyers Project (ILP) to strengthen and facilitate implementation of the Law School's curriculum.

In partnership with the ILP, lawyers from international legal practice DLA Piper are working with their global clients GE and Barclays to deliver a two-week legal drafting module.  Working in close collaboration with Dr Gerald Ndika, Acting Principal of the Law School and Dr Hamudi Majamba, senior lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam School of Law (formerly Faculty of Law) a tailored teaching module covering all aspects of legal drafting, including joint ventures, shareholders agreements, loan agreements and trade finance has been developed.  The unique programme is aimed at trainee lawyers rather than those already qualified and brings together some of the most experienced international lawyers in the area of legal drafting to deliver this module. 

A skilled team of 23 lawyers from across Europe, Middle East and Africa will travel to Tanzania to deliver the courses to the Law School's 190 students. The calibre of  lawyers in the teaching team, which includes senior counsel from GE and Barclays, partners and associates from DLA Piper, is a reflection of each party's commitment to the responsible business agenda, which provides a platform for lawyers to build capacity in other markets and utilise their core skills.

Elaine Radford, Head of CSR at DLA Piper, commented: "It has been enormously encouraging to see the level of commitment provided by all of the participants - with hundreds of hours of time invested into delivering an exemplary learning opportunity for the students.  One of our shared objectives has been to support The Law School of Tanzania and the student community in its efforts to improve academic performance in a stimulating and informative way - by learning through doing.  Having collaborated with the key players at all stages of this project, I know we are close to achieving these objectives."

Two senior partners from leading Tanzanian law firm, IMMMA, with offices in Dar es Salaam and Mwanza, are also part of the teaching team. IMMMA has an exclusive referral relationship with DLA Piper and their support and local knowledge has helped shape the content for the module.

Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world with a population of 35 million and many people living below the World Bank's poverty threshold.  Social and economic reform is a top priority for the Government of Tanzania, which has strengthened academic and learning institutions as part of a broader campaign under the Legal Sector Reform Programme.

ILP and the Law School have been collaborating since 2008 on the development of the  assistance programme. The Legal Drafting module is the fourth module from the Law School's curriculum to benefit from the programme and three more are in the course of production. Modules covering Advocacy Skills, Civil Procedure and Professional Conduct and Ethics have recently been delivered to the Law School's 6^th Cohort by teams of ILP volunteers from prominent law firms and professional training bodies in the UK, including BPP Law School, the College of Law, Clifford Chance, Freemans, Herbert Smith and the Solicitors Association of Higher Court Advocates,  and have already made a considerable impact on students.  The programme has also been well-received by the wider legal community and Tanzanian Government officials, who see the application-based training as a complement to the existing curriculum. Additionally, the collaboration has included a trainer training week attended by a total of 13 legal practitioners who teach at the Law School and the production of training materials – student advance packs, tutor materials and others .

“We are very proud and excited to be able to participate in this programme and this initiative fits well with our efforts to expand our international endeavours, now also on the African continent”, said Hendrik Bourgeois, GE’s General Counsel for EMEA. “This gives us an opportunity to give something back to communities, by sharing with the students some of the professional skills and expertise we have built up during our long and intense legal careers at GE, .”  He finally adds “Our core and primary objective is to provide the students with key insights on how to resolve some legal drafting questions that legal professionals like ourselves are confronted with in international business settings.”

Simon Boon and Lorinda Peasland, restructuring partners at DLA Piper in London, are leading this module on legal drafting.  Simon commented:

"This has been a challenging assignment, producing a bespoke course on a topic that is key to the development of a lawyer's communication skills, particularly as a draftsman of commercial documents.  All the project team have contributed enthusiastically to the course materials and feel that they can add real value to the students' education through their own experiences as lawyers.  We are proud that in-house counsel from our clients GE and Barclays have agreed to work with us on this important project".

In the words of Kihara Maina who is the Managing Director of Barclays Bank Tanzania: “Initiatives such as this that pull together high calibre professionals to share their know-how and experience with students play an important role in building up the skills needed to excel in the increasingly competitive global setting.” He further added, “At Barclays, we are committed to the sustainability of communities we operate in and this approach to nurture young talent through  volunteering our skills to uplift members of our community is engrained in our way of doing business.”

"Students of The Law School of Tanzania are extremely happy with this collaboration. Apart from benefiting from the training manual and other materials on Legal Drafting that have been developed, the students will interact with and learn from legal practitioners who have hands-on experience of what is required in the world of business and commerce.  The School wishes that this collaboration be continuous and sustainable."

Kudzi  Samushonga, who is an Associate Director covering international business support as part of Barclays Corporate team, says :

"Barclays have been in Africa for over 300 years. During this time we have been an integral part of the communities in which we operate and therefore share in the hopes and dreams of the millions of high potential young Africans whose lives we touch every day. Our motive in this initiative is to help them realise their aspirations, by playing our part in developing the next generation of leadership. These individuals will curve the profile of tomorrow’s social, political and economic governance structures. They will be our leaders in society and our partners in business. Our aim is to give them everything they need to make the continent an even friendlier home in which to spend the next 300 years and beyond."