Four White & Case lawyers -- Sara Lulo (London), Raj Gandesha and Greg Starner (New York) and Kristen Dorman (Paris) -- participated as faculty members in the second annual Kenya Women’s Advocacy Training Program in Nairobi, Kenya held in August.  The White & Case participants joined a faculty comprising four US judges, several law professors and lawyers from other firms.

Since the inaugural 2007 program, White & Case has co-sponsored the five-day training program in Kenya, alongside Lawyers Without Borders, the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA), the US Department of State and the World Bank.  Two Kenyan human rights organizations have also provided key organizational support:  the Federation of Women Lawyers-Kenya and the Center for Rights Education and Awareness -- both of which are at the front lines of gender-based violence advocacy and rule of law issues in the country.

In addition to advocacy training for Kenyan lawyers, this year’s program also included a one-day Judicial Symposium for Kenyan judges.  Twenty-five Kenyan judges participated in the event, including Her Ladyship Justice Joyce Alouch of Kenya’s highest court, the Court of Appeal.  This was a rare opportunity for different levels of Kenya's judiciary to discuss issues and challenges relating to the Sexual Offenses Act, Kenya’s first modern statute addressing domestic violence.  By all accounts, the judicial symposium facilitated productive discussions and sparked at least two initiatives that promise tangible impact on the administration of justice in Kenya.

The Training Program and Methodology
Developed by NITA, the training casefile was based on an actual domestic violence case, modified to protect anonymity and to include culturally-relevant facts and issues, while incorporating elements implicating Kenya’s Sexual Offenses Act.

The lectures, demonstrations and training sessions focused on different aspects of the trial process, including opening statements, direct and cross-examinations, and closings.  Special emphasis was given to problems specific to gender-based violence cases, such as how to examine child witnesses and how to elicit testimony regarding sensitive details of domestic violence.

Following the NITA "learn by doing" methodology, trainees were each given several daily exercises to prepare and present in a simulated courtroom setting and receive faculty and group feedback. Trainees also had an opportunity to review video of their performance and receive further, one-on-one feedback.

The group of 50 trainees included newly admitted lawyers as well as those with years of experience presenting cases in Kenya’s High Court, none of whom had ever received formal trial advocacy training, either in school or after becoming qualified lawyers.   In addition, ten Kenyan law students participated as "witnesses" -- and even tried a few presentations.

Working with LWOB
White & Case became involved with the Kenya program through its support of an LWOB rule of law training for Liberia headed up by Hon. Ann C. Williams of the US 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Firm was then invited to participate in the First Kenya Advocacy Training Program, an initiative of Judge Williams supported by LWOB and NITA.  Sara and Judge Williams were among the three faculty members who taught the inaugural program's 25 participants in Kenya last year. This year, Judge Williams again acted as team leader and Sara was invited to serve as assistant team leader.  Kristen played a key role in coordinating the logistics during the program.

Having a personal connection to Kenya, Raj gladly jumped at the opportunity when asked to join the LWOB faculty. "My family is from Kenya and this was a great opportunity to give back to the country.  It was wonderful meeting Kenyan lawyers and law students and hearing their views about Kenya’s social and legal landscape and where they see it going.  It was a great experience to witness first-hand the process of change there."

Making a Difference
The positive response received from the trainees was summed up well by an email from one of the participants who thanked the White & Case team for "truly changing her life" and making her a "better lawyer." 

"The trainees were overwhelmingly enthusiastic and appreciative of our help," commented Greg. "This was a transformative experience to work with other lawyers, exchange best practices and develop trial advocacy skills specific to domestic violence. One lawyer with more than 30 years of experience in court expressed how much he welcomed the opportunity to identify bad habits and improve his trial technique.  Many of the trainees also expressed an interest in participating as trainers in future programs to pass on their newly-acquired skills to colleagues."

In fact, one of the long-term goals of the Kenya program is for local lawyers to become trained NITA teachers and eventually run this program and others like it.  To that end, NITA generously offered scholarships to two of last year’s participants to attend a teacher training course in the US; one of those participants, Jane Serwanga, was a key faculty member in this year’s program.  Raj noted, "It makes a great difference, in so many ways, to have local lawyers on the faculty.  For example, as a Kenyan lawyer, Jane was able to edit aspects of the casefile to trigger more issues under Kenyan law.  That made the overall training more relevant and the skills more transferrable to practice."

Sara added, "When we planned the 2008 Kenya program, our goal was to create a ‘model’ for advocacy training in other countries, particularly in Africa.  In our second year, the number of participants more than doubled and faculty members grew from three to almost 20.  We modified aspects of the program in response to feedback from last year, and also added the judicial symposium.  We are happy that the program has been receiving attention and accolades within the Kenyan legal and diplomatic communities.  Other US and UK law firms are now interested in rolling out similar programs in other countries.  It is exciting that White & Case, along with some excellent partners, is helping to reshape and reinvigorate rule of law efforts."

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© 2008 White & Case LLP