The article argues that lawyers are essential to Africa’s democratic transitions, but must overcome past associations with authoritarian regimes to regain public trust and fulfill their reformative potential.
Africa
Kapinga (1992), “The Legal Profession and Social Action in the Third World: Reflections on Tanzania and Kenya”
The legal professions in Tanzania and Kenya, despite operating under repressive state control, have played a crucial activist role in challenging authoritarianism—unlike their more individualistic counterparts in the West.
Gobe and Salaymeh (2016), “Tunisia’s “Revolutionary” Lawyers: From Professional Autonomy to Political Mobilization”
Tunisian lawyers played a key role in the 2011 uprising and its aftermath, using political lawyering to gain symbolic influence and act as watchdogs over the new government.
Krishnan and Ajagbe (2018), “Legal Activism in the Face of Political Challenges: The Nigerian Case”
Rights-based lawyering in post-authoritarian democracies like Nigeria often builds on the foundations of legal activism developed under past authoritarian regimes, highlighting the continuity of legal resistance across political transitions.
Oko (2009), “The Lawyer’s Role in a Contemporary Democracy, Promoting the Rule of Law, Lawyers in Fragile Democracies and the Challenges of Democratic Consolidation: The Nigerian Experience”
In fragile democracies, lawyers must help build and secure democratic institutions, a role best understood through context-specific analysis rather than abstract ideals.
Sommerlad, Abel, and Hammerslev (2022), Lawyers in 21st-Century Societies: Vol. 2: Comparisons and Theories
Since 1988, global shifts—driven by neoliberalism, globalization, technological change, and the fall of the Soviet bloc—have transformed the legal profession, prompting a comparative analysis of its structure, roles, and challenges across issues like diversity, ethics, access to justice, and legal education.