Globalization has increased opportunities to work at the international level. The transition from working at the local level to the global level is fraught with many challenges and success stories. This panel is made up of women who against the odds are representing their countries on the global level and making an impact. They will share how their training and experience at the local level helped prepare them for global work.

Becoming a partner in law practice is an aspirational target for many lawyers. The journey to partner has proven to be laborious, sacrificial and one that requires a lot of grit and resilience. This panel puts together women who have risen up the ranks to become partners of top tier law firms in their various regions. They will share insight as to what sacrifices they had to make in order to get to the top, in a professional culture that has traditionally been male dominated.

Women are breaking the glass ceiling even in the corporate field, spearheading major transactional briefs and taking the lead at the negotiation table in various organizations. This panel brings together leading corporate women law professionals to engage on pertinent issues including how to move up the corporate ladder, what the practical challenges in the field are, how to balance personal and professional life and how to achieve set goals.

Conflict situations, disasters, and other emergencies create a volatile environment that often portends risks for human rights. The panel will share peculiar experiences of women working in contexts of human rights and humanitarian law. Discussions will center on issues of women’s access to justice, transitional justice, conflict, and cause-lawyering as well as maintaining physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing in such volatile environments.

Let's talk about transiting from private practice to representing states. How do you plan for the move? What skills would be beneficial in your work as a diplomat? Moderated by Ntombizozuko Dyani-Mhango, our panel comprises of: Amb. Anna Bossman, Amb. Jean Kamau, and Ms. Liga Mutia.

The panel challenges this conventional wisdom and explores how a pivot to a Ph.D. can serve as an unorthodox and strategic career development pathway for practitioners. Moderated by Maame A.S. Mensa-Bonsu, our panel comprises of: Adejoké Babington-Ashaye, Kholofelo Kugler, and Shingira Masanzu.