Advancing the Rule of Law in Africa

Assisting Unrepresented Prisoners in Kenya

Kenya does not have a government-run public defender system, and most criminal defendants do not have legal counsel. As a result, prisoners can remain in custody longer than the maximum sentence for their crimes, be held without bail, or be wrongfully convicted. Each year since 2023, we have partnered with nonprofits including Justice Nest and NITA to lead one-week training programs inside Kenyan prisons for paralegal inmates, prison guards, and community lawyers who volunteer for Justice Nest. The participants all go on to assist other inmates after the training that the Justice Nest executor director has called "life changing."

Advancing Mediation Efforts in Kenya

Like many countries, Kenya faces a backlog of cases. To help address this issue, we helped create a working group of stakeholders focused on reducing case backlog in Kenya through mediation. The working group took the approach of encouraging an industry to embrace mediation beyond small-stakes cases, and an inaugural two-day Mediation Summit took place in April 2023 focused on mediating banking cases. More than 400 practitioners, banking industry professionals, members of the judiciary, and academics attended the conference in person, and over 500 more participated virtually. Banking cases were then identified for mediation. The success of that pilot program has led to yearly summits that are now three days in length. The 2004 Summit focused on mediating employment cases, and the 2025 Summit focused on mediating land cases. The Summits continue to draw nearly 1,000 participants, and Kenya has seen a significant increase in the number of cases resolved through mediation.

As the success of any mediation effort depends on trained, skilled mediators, Jones Day has helped lead intensive mediator training programs and “Training of Trainer” sessions for mediators in Kenya, with the goal to grow exponentially the number of talented mediators in the country. In December 2023, we helped conduct a weeklong, rigorous training for 60 experienced mediators who were selected from a pool of 250 applicants. The participants included at least one mediator from each of Kenya’s 47 counties, and all received International Mediation Institute certification. We then helped train that cohort to become mediation trainers themselves. In 2025, a second cohort of 30 mediators was chosen from over 400 applicants. We helped conduct intensive weeklong training and a Training of Trainers course for this second cohort as well.

Enhancing Nigeria's Criminal Justice System

We have partnered with the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) to conduct a number of training programs in Nigeria, including the following five-day programs in Lagos:

Advocacy training for 60 prosecutors and public defenders in 2025
Advocacy training for 75 prosecutors, public defenders, and legal aid attorneys in 2024, as well as a Training of Trainers course for previous participants
Advocacy and interviewing training for 120 prosecutors, public defenders, and social workers in 2023
Advocacy, forensics, and restorative justice training for 60 prosecutors and public defenders in 2022
Advocacy training for 60 prosecutors and public defenders in 2019, and Training of Trainers course

Comments from participants include that “you revolutionize our methods of advocacy” and that the training has “changed the way cases are tried.”

We also helped lead a plea bargaining implementation program designed to respect the rights of victims and defendants, a three-day training program focused on child witnesses, and, in collaboration with Lawyers Without Borders, a virtual program focused on gender-based violence for prosecutors in Ogun State.

At the Lagos State Office of the Public Defender’s 25^th anniversary celebration in 2025, the OPD presented Jones Day with an award for its “outstanding and unwavering support in advancing trial advocacy.” It also honored Williams with a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of “her extraordinary leadership in advancing trial advocacy across Africa and beyond.” The OPD also presented Jones Day with an Award of Appreciation in 2022 to recognize the Firm’s “contributions toward capacity building and the promotion of justice.”

In the Moot: Developing Africa’s Future Arbitration Leaders

Jones Day has helped train hundreds of law students from sub-Saharan Africa in international commercial arbitration since 2019. We were the founding partner of Africa in the Moot, which each year brings law students to Kenya for intensive training and a Pre-Moot competition before the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot in Vienna. In 2025, 60 students from 15 law schools in 11 sub-Saharan African countries participated in the East Africa Pre-Moot in Nairobi. Jones Day attorneys travel to Kenya for the Pre-Moot and to help the lead training that precedes it, and we also provide virtual support and coaching.

Strengthening Criminal Defense in Ethiopia Through Advocacy Training

In 2025, the Firm helped lead the first trial advocacy training program for public defenders in Ethiopia. More than 70 public defenders gathered in Addis Abada for the program that one supervisor called “one of the most inspiring and successful training sessions we have ever experienced.” The program focused on case analysis, preparation for trial, and trial advocacy skills and was conducted with partners including NITA.

Teaching Trial Advocacy in Nigeria: "A Transformative Experience for All of Us"

In this video, Marques Hillman Richeson discusses his trip to Lagos, Nigeria, where Jones Day partnered with the National Institute for Trial Advocacy to provide training to more than 120 public defenders, prosecutors, judges, and social workers.

Combating Human Trafficking and Forced Labor in Liberia

Jones Day worked with Lawyers Without Borders on a multi-year project to address child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking in Liberia. As part of this project, our attorneys traveled to Monrovia several times to help lead training programs and also helped develop reference materials. Sessions included training on Liberia’s Revised Trafficking in Persons Act and amendments to the Child Labor Act as well as “Training of Trainers” programs, during which we taught community leaders from across the country not only how to identify, investigate, and prosecute crimes, but also how to develop training skills to allow them to replicate the trainings with their own colleagues.

The January 2024 trainings included former trainees who became the teachers and delivered the curriculum to more than 25 police officers and more than 20 members of the Liberian bench and bar. The police officers were given pocket guides to refer to when investigating crimes out in the field, and the prosecutors were given rapid-reference cards designed to assist them when working on cases involving child labor and trafficking.

Building Capacity Across the Continent

Jones Day leads courses and seminars with the International Law Institute–South African Centre for Excellence (ILI-SACE) to build the capacity of sub-Saharan African senior government officials and other professionals. Our attorneys travel to sub-Saharan African countries or conduct virtual sessions on topics including corporate governance, commercial transactions and international investments, renewable energy regulation and financing, and public-private partnerships.

The Firm also works with universities, law schools, and nonprofits including the Human Needs Project and BarefootLaw, which uses innovative technology and solar-powered converted shipping containers to provide access to justice to communities throughout Uganda.

Other programs we have led in collaboration with other nonprofit organizations on the Continent include trainings focused on gender-based violence in Namibia; anti-corruption, new prosecutor skills, and advocacy in Kenya; trial advocacy in Tanzania; and case management in Ghana.