Uganda Law Society
 |
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| Type | Professional association |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Promote legal professionalism |
| Headquarters | Plot 5A John Babiiha Drive (Formerly Acacia Avenue) |
| Location |
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Official language
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English |
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President
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Mr. Francis Gimara |
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Vice President
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Mrs. Alice Namuli Blazevic |
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Honorary Secretary
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Mrs. Pheona Nabasa-Wall |
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Treasurer
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Hajjat Shifrah Lukwago |
| Website | www |
Coordinates: 0°20′11″N 32°35′14″E / 0.336283°N 32.587187°E
The Uganda Law Society (ULS) is an association of lawyers charged with ensuring high levels of professionalism among lawyers in Uganda.
The Mission statement is: To improve the professional standards of our members and to promote respect for Human Rights, the Rule of Law and Access to Justice in Uganda.
The ULS Vision is: To excel as a professional body in the development of the legal profession and the promotion of justice in Uganda.
The Society has both Statutory and Corporate Objectives which it strives for:
The Uganda Law Society was formed by an act of Parliament in 1956. The ULS is governed by an executive council with representatives from each of the four regions of Uganda. It is a member of the East Africa Law Society, which also includes member countries Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.
The Legal Aid Project (LAP) was established by the Uganda Law Society in 1992, with assistance from the Norwegian Bar Association to provide legal assistance to indigent and vulnerable people in Uganda.
The Project was born out of the realization that apart from the state brief system that handles only capital offences, and the huge backlog of cases, there is no statutory free Legal Aid provision in Uganda despite the fact that a large part of Uganda's population lives below the poverty line, and without means to access justice.
To date, the project has helped and continues to help thousands of indigent men, women and children to realize their legal and Human Rights.
LAP has branches in Kabarole, Kabale, Masindi, Jinja, Gulu, Arua, Soroti, Mbarara and its head office in Kampala.
Pro-bono services in Uganda are premised on the fact that a significant proportion of the Ugandan population lives in abject poverty. This leads to limited access to justice as they cannot pursue the same due to the high related costs. According to the National Development Plan, the Justice, Law and Order Sector (JLOS) notes that the key barriers to access to justice include: growing caseloads, physical distance to service institutions, technical barriers, poverty, and lack of access by women and marginalized groups. It further indicates that women experience more barriers in accessing justice because they have higher illiteracy levels and lack information about legal rights. To this end, prevailing poverty and its attendant restriction on mobility limits access to legal services and as such occasions injustice.
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