Conference programme

• What do new free trade agreements between African states and the UK or US mean for African regional integration?
• Do trends from outside the continent such as Brexit and the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement have any lessons for African agreements?
• The lessons from cross border legal services in regional blocs before the African Continental Free Trade Area (what new approach is expected?)
• What are the experiences of pan-African law fi rms thus far?

• What are the technology needs for African law fi rms – does size matter?
• Can technology improve access to justice?
• How to implement the most effective technology strategy for your firm or legal department
• Managing cybersecurity and new risks
• The impact, value and challenges of data as an asset on the legal services market – how law firms and other entities that render legal services should consider the use of data to enhance their business strategies

• The role that Africa’s minerals resources will play in the green energy transition
• The management of relationships with local and indigenous communities
• Addressing the causes and impact on sustainability of forced migration and people trafficking
• The legal mechanisms used by governments, development finance institutions, civil society organisations, and the private sector to establish and promote sustainable practices
• What the world could (and should) learn from Africa on the regulation and implementation of sustainability

• How best should regulators support innovation whilst ensuring consumer protection?
• How to regulate life of civil society in this new age?
• What will be the most efficient way for law and regulation to close the gap and catch-up with the realities of disruptive technologies?
• In light of recent legislation, international developments and the recent COMESA Competition Commission’s ruling on Jumia, is the gig economy already under threat in Africa?

• From available data: are we there yet or are African arbitrations still taking place mostly outside the continent? Was it enough to establish new centres in the continent and other initiatives to keep disputes resolution in the continent?
• What are the challenges and opportunities?
• Can the AfCFTA bring international arbitration home - especially investment arbitration?

• Extraterritorial and national regulations in Africa – how law firms can ensure compliance and protect themselves and clients 

• How personal data regulations change business processes in Africa
• How bar associations and regulators can support their members to implement the new regimes
• Can the impact of fake information through social networks, internet and messaging applications be managed by data privacy regulations or are new frameworks required?
• What should an African data protection framework look like in light of the AfCFTA?

20 years on from the signing of the Rome Statute, with the winding down of the UN International Criminal Tribunals and the emergence of calls for new hybrid or special criminal tribunals (eg, for ISIS, for Syria) and the proliferation of attempts to bring war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide cases before domestic courts, this panel will analyse the challenges and obstacles that criminal justice currently faces at the international level, and whether the future of international justice lies on an international, hybrid or domestic trajectory.

• With regional integration becoming a reality on the continent, how can law schools ensure they are producing lawyers that can operate cross-border?
• Harmonisation/mutual recognition of training standards and curricula – is this the way to go?
• How can legal education provision in Africa innovate to meet the needs of firms and the wider market and economies of the future?

• Reshaping workplace culture and expectations
• Managing the hybrid team and tracking performance
• Addressing diversity and equity gaps
• Strategies for ensuring well-being and wellness of the team