BY THE ARUSHA NEWS REPORTER
LAWYERS and legal professionals from across Africa are expected to gather in Cairo, Egypt, next week for the 16th Annual Conference of the Arusha-based Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU).
The conference will take place from August 31 to September 2, 2026 at the InterContinental Cairo Semiramis Hotel, bringing together lawyers, bar leaders, academics, policymakers and representatives of legal institutions from across the continent and beyond.
This year’s conference will be held under the theme, “The African Lawyer in the Age of Al: Leveraging Technology to Achieve a Just and Prosperous Africa.”
Discussions are expected to examine how artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies are changing legal practice, access to justice, governance and regulation in Africa.
The programme will also cover business and trade, public interest and development law, human rights and developments affecting legal practice across the continent. An Artificial Intelligence masterclass is among the activities planned as PALU seeks to equip African legal practitioners with practical knowledge on the opportunities and risks associated with the growing use of Al in legal work.
Pre-conference activities begin on August 28, with a Litigation Surgery on Reparations, while registration and other meetings will continue on August 30, ahead of the official opening of the conference on Monday, August 31.
Preparations for the Cairo gathering have included consultations between PALU and the Egyptian Bar Association. Earlier this year, a PALU delegation met Egyptian Bar leaders to discuss organisational and logistical arrangements for the conference.
PALU is a continental organisation bringing together national and regional lawyers’ associations as well as individual lawyers and its annual conference provides a platform for the African legal profession to discuss developments affecting law, justice, governance and economic development on the continent.
