Practice Areas
Debt Collection:
In our eyes, a debt is to be honoured - whether by full payment or re-structuring.As your representatives, we’ll collect money for you, not excuse.
Mineral Mandates, Energy, Oil & Gas:
Uganda, and truly the region, is ‘gifted by nature’.This is why that phrase has become one of our national mottos.This abundance of natural wealth extends far below our skies, treetops and savannah grasslands to the depth of our earth where our precious mineral, oil and gas deposits are found. If you have the desire and expertise to extract any of these, we have the diligence and skill to legally help you to. Not only do we have experience forming and now helping to run mineral mining and oil exploration companies, but from initial exploration to royalty share, we can advise on and draft contracts for all stages of the upstream or downstream mining, drilling, production, transportation and clean-up process.
Human Rights:
Our practice has frequently intervened on behalf of others in human rights matters, pushing for progressive interpretations of legislation to afford the broadest protection to vulnerable groups. This intervention has extended across a range of issues such as health, education and other public service access. As champions for Human Rights, we ensure all that we do and all we aim to achieve is fair, right and Human Rights compliant.
Intellectual Property:
Not only do we work daily with the tangible form of property that most business people are used to such as realty, stock and shares but we also have a specialisation in intellectual property (IP) protection. Our extensive experience of researching for and advising both domestic and foreign clients on IP Protection puts us in the forefront in helping companies with trade-mark and other IP registration, negotiating and managing licensing and clearances, investigating infringements and passing-off and reaching workable and acceptable solutions where disputes arise.
Litigation:
Where there is a wrong, we can and have acted for both sides - both the person bringing the case and the one defending it with a distinguished track record of success in Civil Matters, usually through mediation. Where crime is involved, although our preference is resolve matters before a prosecution is brought against our clients, we still have extensive experience of defending cases at trial and on appeal throughout the court system in Uganda. On both accounts we have advised on or acted in a range of matters from litigation arising from bankruptcy and dissolution of partnership to director deadlock and employee or senior executive misconduct. We always try to bring order and resolution to disorder and uncertainty.
Public Interest Litigation:
Working closely with clients, we respond to challenges, formulate and carry forward strategic litigation that enhance public services and expand the framework of law and policy. Through hour Public Interest Litigation practice, we seek a better solution for all: progressive socio-economic, environmental and cultural transformation of our country.
Real Estate:
Uganda has several different systems under which land can be owned. Each system depends on who wishes to own the land and where in the country that land is. There have been several major land reforms and land is often at the centre not only of great wealth but also of great conflict. Ownership can vary from complete individual ownership to limited, communal ownership. People and companies alike need somewhere to call home be it a residential plot for a person or a commercial plot for a Corporate HQ. Whether you are a Telecoms Company negotiating Right of Way, a Mining Company seeking Variation of Use or a Tenant wanting to extend their lease, we can help you legally, with certainty and a great deal of peace of mind secure your licence, lease, freehold or other title. Our expertise runs from residential to business, from schools, shops and restaurants to farms, warehouses and factories. Whatever kind of service or business you provide, we can help with your real estate and legal needs.
Legal Research, Consultancy, Conferences, Workshops & Training:
To help improve public and professional understanding of law and through our offerings of research, publication and training, we promote new thinking, challenge current issues and encourage stimulating debate. In the final analysis, our aim is to create a more conducive business environment for our clients. To this end, our extensive range of legal analysis, seminars, workshops, training opportunities and publications are open to all interested parties.
Islamic Banking:The market opportunity represented by Islamic Finance in Africa is too significant to ignore. The challenge is to enter the market quickly while minimizing costs and risks. Our Strategic partners, the Africa Islamic Economic Foundation, have therefore assembled a strong team of specialists in Islamic Finance with wide-ranging experience to help clients in all areas of the business in its Africa Islamic Financial Sector Development Program.The program articulates policy and strategy, designs and implements evaluations, and delivers trainings on each. For example, it responds to requests from national partners to design and facilitate a process of creating a national Islamic banking and finance regulatory frameworks, and the development of blueprints and strategy-setting in African countries. It operates on a BOTT model (Build, Operate, Train and Transfer). It takes care of everything one needs to launch an Islamic Finance Project in Africa.
With the support of our Strategic partners we offer the following special Islamic Banking services to our Ugandan clients:
- Development of strategy and business plans
- Feasibility studies
- Strategic business reviews
- Debt restructuring
- Private placement memoranda
- Setting up full fledge Islamic banks/windows
- Islamic private equity transactions
- Design of operating models
- Organization design and comprehensive HR support
- Core banking systems selection
- Regulatory compliance
- Regulatory Strategy
- Training
- Internal Audit
- Assurance
- Shari’ah AuditTakaful (Islamic Insurance):The renaissance in Islamic banking and finance and demand for non-interest bearing financial transactions and ethical investments has spurred the double-digit growth of the global demand for Takaful, or insurance based on principles of mutual assistance. Since the launch of the first Takaful in 1979 in Sudan, the global Takaful industry has witnessed tremendous growth, particularly in the last decade, rapidly becoming an important component of the global Islamic financial System and attracting the attention of Global financial centers and rating agencies like, the internationally acclaimed credit-rating agency, Standards & Poor.The Middle East, South East Asia, Africa, and Europe have become key centers of this dynamic and vibrant industry, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 39% over 2005‐08 in terms of global Takaful premiums. The estimated size of the global Takaful premium was USD5.3bn in 2008 and USD8.9bn in 2010 and was expected to reach 12 billion US dollars in 2012. Globally, it is estimated that there were some 179 Takaful companies and windows (20%) in 2008, and this number in 2010 was in excess of 200 and currently, the global Takaful industry is said to be growing at 20% per year, far outstripping the 2.5% annual growth for conventional insurance premiums. In African countries with large Muslim populations, such as Nigeria, the Takaful market can be considered very much in the embryonic stage, but represents a potential customer base that no insurer can ignore. In collaboration with our strategic partners, we can assist our Ugandan clients with the establishment of Takaful companies and institutions, providing them with strategy and business plan development and assist with market entry plans, operating model design, IT strategy and architecture development.
Sukuk (Islamic Bonds):Recent innovations in Islamic finance have changed the dynamics of the Islamic finance industry. Specially in the area of bonds and securities the use of Sukuk or Islamic securities have become increasingly popular in the last few years, both as a means of raising government finance through sovereign issues, and as a way of companies obtaining funding through the offer of corporate sukuk. Beginning modestly in 2000 with a total of three Sukuk issuance worth $336 million, the total global Islamic bond issuance is expected to surge to $175 billion in 2015, up from $110 in 2014, and is projected to hit $250 billion by 2020, while the total global outstanding Sukuk, which is currently at $241 billion, is also expected to grow to $907 billion by 2020. Sukuk has developed as one of the most significant mechanisms for raising finance in the international capital markets through Islamically acceptable structures. Multinational corporations, sovereign bodies, state corporations and financial institutions use international Sukuk issuance as an alternative to syndicated financing. Sukuk markets in Africa are still very limited with Sukuk issuance in very few countries, such as Nigeria, Sudan, Senegal, The Gambia, while others such as Egypt and Tunisia have announced plans to further develop domestic Sukuk markets in the future. Working in close collaboration with our Strategic partner we shall:
• Promote the concept of Sukuk to the Ugandan government, investors, product originators and other interested parties.
• Engage with the Ugandan Government and Ugandan development banks about supporting appropriate project development and the growth of the Sukuk market in Uganda.
• Support the Ugandan Government and Ugandan private sector entities to build their capacity to undertake the necessary functions to develop and sustain Sukuk markets in Uganda.
