Rwandan senior lawyer Richard Mugisha is the new president of the East African Law Society (EALS).

He was elected during the body’s general assembly held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania over the weekend.

EALS is an umbrella body that brings together lawyers from the East African Community and it currently has 15,000 members.

Mugisha, the Managing Partner of Trust Law Chambers, will lead the organisation for the next two years, following the conclusion of the term of office for the Executive Council elected in 2014 and headed by Nassor Khamis Mohammed, from Zanzibar.

"It is a great honour and privilege for me to lead the East Africa Law Society. I am aware of the immense responsibility associated with the privilege and I pledge to discharge it with dedication and commitment,” Mugisha said of his election.

Mugisha, 47, founded Trust Law Chambers, one of the biggest law firms in the country, in 2004.

He is a fellow of the Africa Leadership Initiative and the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Another Rwandan lawyer, Sandra Rwamushaija, was also elected as council member at the meeting.

The Annual General Meeting was preceded by an annual conference themed, "Enhancing Business Competitiveness through a Greater Democratisation of East Africa.”

The conference was opened by Tanzanian premier Kassim Majaliwa, who reiterated the importance of regional cooperation among legal practitioners.

He said that President John Pombe Magufuli had instructed his Attorney General to fast-track the process of ensuring that Tanzania signs up to the Advocates’ Mutual Recognition Agreement that is currently pending signature to come into force.

Four EAC member states have already signed agreement that is supposed to give a green light for the lawyers to freely ply their trade across all the East African Community member states.

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