Africa

For Lawyers in Zimbabwe, a Day at the Office Can Carry Risks to Life and Limb #ABAChicago

Lawyers in the African nation of Zimbabwe don’t worry much about such things as recessions, competing for business or the future of the billable hour. Their focus is more likely on staying out of jail while keeping their clients alive. Zimbabwe has experienced “a complete breakdown of the rule of…

Aug 1, 2009 9:27 PM CDT

Pfizer Agrees to Pay $75M to Settle Nigerian Drug-Test Case

Without admitting liability, Pfizer has agreed to pay $75 million to settle criminal and civil cases in Nigeria alleging that the world’s largest drug company illegally tested the antibiotic Trovan on children there during a 1996 meningitis epidemic. The drug allegedly killed 11 children and disabled dozens more; however, Pfizer…

Jul 30, 2009 7:26 PM CDT

Malawi High Court OKs Pop Icon’s Adoption Petition

Madonna has the blessing of Malawi’s highest court to adopt her second child from the African nation. Friday’s decision reverses a lower court, which had ruled that Madonna didn’t meet adoption requirements because she hadn’t resided in the country for 18 consecutive months. So what prompted the change of course?…

Jun 12, 2009 10:25 PM CDT

1st Civilian Trial of Gitmo Prisoner Will Be Ghailani’s in N.Y.

Countering critics’ claims that it is too dangerous to transport terrorism suspects to the United States for trial in civilian courts, Attorney General Eric Holder announced today that the first such trial of a detainee at the Guantanamo Bay military base in Cuba will be held in New York. Ahmed…

May 22, 2009 12:00 AM CDT

Former Gambian Lawyer Awaits Bar Results and Drives a Cab

The economic downturn has produced a record number of cab drivers in New York, and one of them is a former Gambian lawyer who is hoping to get his U.S. law license. The number of cab drivers in the city reached a high of 47,000 in April, the New York…

Apr 24, 2009 3:26 PM CDT

D.C. Taxi Driver Protest Points Finger at DLA Piper

It probably isn’t the kind of advertising that DLA Piper would have sought out. But at least one Washington, D.C., cabdriver is prominently displaying the law firm’s name on the vehicle’s rooftop in protest of DLA Piper’s representation of the government of Ethiopia. The international megafirm, which says its paid…

Apr 21, 2009 6:40 PM CDT

New ‘Hague’ for Pirates Might Be Kenya

The high-profile rescue this week by the U.S. Navy of an American cargo ship captain reportedly being held hostage by pirates from Somalia has put a hitherto little-known legal issue in the spotlight. Pirates on the high seas are so rarely tried for the crime that no one is sure…

Apr 15, 2009 12:07 AM CDT

Pirate Attacks Keep Law Firm’s Hotline Ringing Off the Hook

What do you do when an oil tanker you own carrying cargo worth more than $100 million is hijacked by pirates on the high seas? You call your lawyer, of course. And such calls to a 24-hour hotline maintained by Holman Fenwick Willan, a London law firm specializing in maritime…

Dec 10, 2008 9:09 PM CST

Hunton & Williams Signs Agreement with African Law Firm

Hunton & Williams has signed a memorandum of understanding with the largest law firm in East Africa to work together on energy matters and commerce-related work. Hunton signed the agreement with Mkono & Co. Advocates after collaborating with the firm on energy-related matters in Tanzania for more than a decade,…

Sep 2, 2008 1:18 PM CDT

Child Labor in Congo Benefits Chinese Companies—and US Consumers

Those who attend the Summer Olympics in Beijing this year could unknowingly be benefiting from child labor in the Congo. That’s where boys like Adon Kalenga, 13, work as independent contractors for middlemen who sell the ore they mine with their bare hands to Chinese-operated smelters, at a going rate…

Jul 23, 2008 4:52 PM CDT

ABA President Calls for Mugabe to Restore Rule of Law

Against a backdrop of increasingly violent contention that has led Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II to rescind the knighthood of Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, the president of the ABA today sent a letter (PDF) to Mugabe. It calls for Mugabe to put an end to “state-sponsored violence and intimidation of lawyers”…

Jun 30, 2008 10:35 PM CDT

US Now Holding 500 Juveniles in Iraq; Was Holding 2,500

In a report to a United Nations committee, the United States says it is holding 500 juveniles, apparently in adult detention facilities, in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since 2002, a total of some 2,500 have reportedly been detained as suspected “unlawful enemy combatants.” “A total of 2,500 youths under the age…

May 19, 2008 9:06 PM CDT

Double Amputee Can Run for Olympic Spot Despite Prosthetics, CAS Says

Updated: A double amputee who was banned from competing as a sprinter in the 2008 Olympics because his prosthetic legs allegedly give him an advantage over athletes who still have their own biological legs has won a reprieve. An appellate body today overturned the January ruling against Oscar Pistorius of…

May 16, 2008 3:31 PM CDT

Tropical Island Near Africa May Soon Allow Foreign Practice

For American lawyers and others who may wish to consider practicing in the Republic of Mauritius, a lengthy editorial in a local newspaper provides a detailed description of the lay of the land. While it isn’t yet legal for outsiders to do so, the writer of the L’Express editorial today…

May 1, 2008 3:29 PM CDT

Supreme Court Accepts African Prison Guard’s Asylum Appeal

A former prison camp guard who says he was forced to persecute others in Africa will get a chance to press his case for asylum with the U.S. Supreme Court. Daniel Girmai Negusie was denied asylum because he helped operate a prison camp in Eritrea during a war with Ethiopia,…

Mar 17, 2008 5:11 PM CDT