Committees and Sections

Business and Human Rights Committee / Working Group

Business and human rights is a key component of strategies supporting corporate responsibility, ethical business, sustainability and good corporate governance more broadly.

The Business and Human Rights Committee aims to promote the development of legal skills required to advise clients and to support law firm management in these areas, and to facilitate education and dialogue among lawyers who practice in this emerging area of the law.

Communications Law

The Communications Law Committee is a leading global forum for legal practitioners with specialist expertise or interest in the communications sector.

The Committee offers members access to a worldwide network of leading practitioners, in-house counsel and regulators active in digital, communications and media markets.

We encourage the sharing of sectoral expertise through regular publication of articles, periodic issues of our technical journal; the annual Committee conference hosted jointly with other PALU Committees; and specialised sessions at the PALU Annual Conference.

The Committee’s work covers network, service and content-related developments across all delivery platforms. This provides PALU members with access to practical global perspectives on the array of technological, commercial and policy issues which confront communications lawyers, their companies and clients.

Environmental, Energy and Natural Resources Law

The Committee’s objective is to promote the knowledge and awareness in all areas of environmental, health and safety law and related issues, as well as the interrelationships between them. The Committee provides a forum for discussion, bringing together lawyers from all around the globe with extensive experience in these areas of practice.

The Environmental, Energy and Natural Resources Law Committee also aims at providing members of the other PALU Committees with ways to understand better the issues they customarily deal with from a different perspective, bearing in mind that the environmental, health and safety issues impact across many different areas of international and domestic law practice.

The Committee addresses, among others, issues as diverse as sustainable development, biodiversity, air, water, groundwater and waste regulation, climate change, safety in the workplace, protection of endangered species, food safety, environment and trade, etc.

The Environmental, Energy and Natural Resources Law Committee works with the other PALU Committees to form the Section on Energy, Environment, Natural Resources and Infrastructure Law.

Information and Communications Technology Law / Droit des technologies de l’in

The Information and Communications Technology Committee brings together lawyers practising aspects of the law particularly relevant to modern technologies. They have in common that they deal with developing bodies of law coming to grips with the new questions posed by new technologies. The Committee’s mandate is broad; and includes virtually any kind of technology.

Illicit Financial Flows Task Force / Groupe de réflexion sur les flux financiers illicites

This Committee looks at curbing Illicit Financial Flows from Africa (e.g. illegal movements of money or capital from one African country to another).

Women Lawyers’ Forum / Forum des femmes Juristes

This Forum offers an array of opportunities to PALU Women Members. Liaison and discussions of global significance (e.g. how to break glass ceilings, how to address prejudices and stereotypes) take place at PALU conferences; at PALU Regional Women Lawyers’ Conferences; and by newsletter or through contact with fellow members listed in the Forum’s Directory. Apart from fostering women lawyers’ business potentials, the Committee aims to provide informal advice and assistance in areas of interest.

This Committee will also work closely with the Litigation Committee to ensure that special consideration is given when dealing with female witnesses and litigants; some may have young children they are nursing or could be pregnant. As well, this Committee will work to create favourable conditions where females are to appear in courts.

All PALU members (male and female) are encouraged to participate in the Women Lawyers' Forum activities.

Membership Services / Services aux membres

This Committee is responsible for working with PALU to contribute to the leadership and direction of PALU membership strategies especially contemporary strategies for recruiting as well as retaining new members.

This Committee also supports with engagement of PALU members through various Committees, Task Forces, Working Groups, and Fora.

Resource Mobilisation / Mobilisation des ressources

This Committee works with PALU to: (1) increase annual levels of funding to foster a shared vision of priorities and results with the broadest possible range of resource partners; (2) diversify the nature and sources of funding to sustain partnerships that help to connect global and Africa-led human rights goals and targets to the specific priorities of national governments; (3) promote African law firm/lawyer philanthropy to broaden the base of resource partners; and (4) explore crowd funding options and opportunities to engage with diverse citizens globally.