The Tanganyika Law Society, The Colom Foundation and Nashera Hotels have joined efforts in organizing and conducting legal training of advocates at the university’s law school. This January, a group of seven law students from Tanzania began legal training with The University of Mississippi School of Law.
Funded by the Colom Foundation and the university, the training is expected to provide specialized continuous legal education, significant in enhancing advocates’ understanding in key legal aspects. This training is the first of two five-month periods, which will end in May. The second period is scheduled from September to December of this year.
The Colom Foundation is a charitable arm of Attorney Wilbur Colom and his two partners’ firm, Colom Law. Colom is also a partner in Nashera Hotels, a hotel business located in Morogoro, Tanzania.
“As a business in Tanzania, it is our responsibility as a good neighbor to help develop this nation and be a benefit to those around us,” said Wilbur Colom, president of Colom Foundation, Colom Investment Limited and principal shareholder of Nashera Hotels. “We are pleased to partner with Tanganyika Law Society, further educating their members. As a lawyer by training, I appreciate the importance of well-trained advocates. This is a noble purpose.”
Tanzanian students applied through the Tanganyika Law Society and were then interviewed by associate professor of law Michèle Alexandre. Professor Alexandre and Colom made the final selection of students.
The UM School of Law has provided a waiver on tuition fees for the trainees, and the Colom Foundation and Nashera Hotels have covered transportation costs to the U.S. as well as accommodation fees for the full period of the course. Colom said that they plan to bring another group of students to school next year as well.
While the law school training is set to benefit the Tanzanian students, it is also said to benefit the university as well.
“The (Tanzanian) students bring new perspectives to the practice of law and to legal education,” said Jess Walkman, UM Law School Student Body Association president. “The legal systems around the world can share some similarities, but even relatively similar systems have distinct differences, and learning from those differences helps us to better train lawyers at Ole Miss who can practice effectively in an increasingly global legal community.”
Jack Spencer, a senior public policy leadership major who will be attending law school this fall, is excited for the Tanzanian students to be here.
“The fact that a program as exciting and beneficial as this is going on at The University of Mississippi is fantastic news to me,” Spencer said. “I believe that the cultural exchange that this program fosters will lead to improvement in the education of both their students and ours.”
