In anticipation of turning 50 this year, Tim Taylor, SJ Berwin's head of international arbitration, felt he wanted to give something back to his favourite continent. His idea gained quick and widespread support. Three months later, International Lawyers for Africa (ILFA) was launched in March 2006.

ILFA is an initiative, led by SJ Berwin, in partnership with leading international lawyers, major City and international law firms and academics aimed at addressing some of the needs of African lawyers. In particular, it aims to address the need for all local lawyers to develop international skills and to provide an insight into how international institutions work.

Institutions such as the World Bank, the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations (UN) need the brightest, most skilled representatives working for them in issues at the top of the international political agenda. Nations that are in dialogue with the G8 countries and international institutions recognise that the increasingly global nature of the world's economy demands uniform legal rules to facilitate cross-border transactions and dispute resolution.

In view of this, most developing nations have found it necessary to adopt legal rules and practices that are recognised internationally.

This progression can prove challenging, particularly in developing countries which lack the necessary resources and infrastructure to carry out legal reforms and provide continuing professional legal education to their lawyers. ILFA aims to provide some of these opportunities to African lawyers.

What ILFA hopes to achieve

ILFA will assist African nations by helping to equip some of their brightest lawyers with the legal and commercial skills necessary for their nations to compete and excel in the global economy. ILFA's initial goal will be to act as a catalyst in providing placements for a three-month period in international law firms to candidates drawn from African nations starting with a pilot scheme in autumn 2007. ILFA is working in conjunction with the in-country law societies and Bar associations in Africa to find and place prospective candidates in London law firms.

The placements will initially offer a curriculum for about 10 candidates, eventually increasing to 20 candidates annually. Each year there will be one successful candidate from each of the participating African jurisdictions. Candidates will be selected based on uniform criteria developed in consultation with the in-country selection committees.

During their three-month placements, the candidates will rotate through a combination of the most relevant parts of existing law firm training programmes. The training programmes may include international trade and finance, international arbitration, banking, project finance or capital markets.

These programmes are intended to take up two or three days of the working week to gain valuable legal experience in the participating law firms.

In addition, the candidates will also attend high-level seminars and lectures by international lawyers from leading universities and among the relevant international institutions.

The lectures will include the functioning of international bodies such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the UN, as well as legal topics associated with issues likely to confront developing nations such as access to capital markets and infrastructure projects.

Countries that will be part of the scheme

The ILFA initiative is open to all African lawyers throughout the continent, including students, lawyers in private practice and government service. For the first intake of 2007, it is hoped that candidates will be selected from Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Cameroon, Uganda and Sudan (although the initial countries may change). ILFA intends to prioritise African countries according to the neediest. The placements will be advertised and selected by the in-country committee.

Successful candidates will be placed with law firms that sponsor them individually and will be responsible for the candidate's travel arrangements, accommodation and living expenses while here. Each candidate will have a 'buddy' who works at the sponsoring firm to assist when required.

Level of interest

The ILFA initiative has also gained support from organisations such as the UN and other international institutions. The UN's secretary general's special representative for West Africa, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah; former legal adviser to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Sir Franklin Berman QC; and former senior vice president and general counsel of the World Bank and former secretary general of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Dispute, Roberto Danino, represent some of the distinguished and highly qualified list of members of the ILFA advisory committee.

More importantly, the ILFA initiative has been very well received by some of the pilot countries. A clear non-poaching policy is to apply. This is to further develop African lawyers' international skills and expressly not to facilitate a brain-drain.

ILFA is aware of and commends similar programmes such as the Advocates for International Development (formerly 1,000 City Lawyers Against Poverty) project and the International Lawyers Project, and views this as a great opportunity to make common cause with people abroad.

Rukia Baruti is director of ILFA at SJ Berwin.