Advancing the Rule of Law in Kenya and Nigeria might not be the typical take your daughter to work day, but that is what happens when your dad is J.C. Lore. He is a Professor at Rutgers Law School and former trial lawyer who has been donating his time to training public interest lawyers and improving legal systems for the most vulnerable throughout the United States and around the world. Now, this work has become more of a family affair as his three oldest daughters have started tagging along and volunteering to work.
Unlike the United States, the majority of African countries don’t have a public defense system and most citizens aren’t afforded the right to representation in criminal and civil matters. This makes any public defense system or alternative model of representation all the more important, not just because of the invaluable services they provide to their own country, but also because of the model they create for other countries interested in developing their own programs.
Kenya: Building Justice from Inside the Prisons
In Kenya, there’s a significant lack of a government-supported and funded public defender system, which unfortunately leads to many defendants being tried without legal representation. The right to counsel only applies to the charge of homicide. Most defendants, particularly those from marginalized communities, are forced to represent themselves in court, which can lead to unfair trials and convictions. More than 80% of Kenyan prisoners lack access to legal representation and face court proceedings without counsel. Many prisoners also spend years–sometimes up to a decade–waiting for their trial because of court backlogs and the unavailability of a lawyer to help move their case along.
I recently spent time in Naivasha’s maximum security prison supporting a program led by the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA), Jones Day, and Justice Defenders, helping to provide legal training and advocacy skills to incarcerated individuals and prison staff who are themselves paralegals. Paralegal offices have been established within the walls of this prison and many others throughout Kenya and other parts of Africa. Paralegal programs have been instrumental in drastically reducing the prison population by sometimes as much as 50%. Additionally, the prison staff reported that incidents of violence are just a fraction of what they used to be before inmates had access to legal support within the walls of the prison.
During the program, I had the opportunity to watch more than a hundred inmates and prison guards collaborate with lawyers, professors, and legal officers to learn from each other in many different ways. The program participants, who were either working towards a law degree or enrolled in the paralegal program, were learning how to conduct a direct examination with open-ended questions and perform a cross-examination with a line of closed-ended questioning to better prepare them for upcoming trials.
The program culminated in mock trials, in which the participants spoke with such vigor and vitality, that you couldn’t tell that most of them had long and sometimes life sentences weighing on their shoulders. As a witness, I was worried about messing up or forgetting an important fact from the case file. In reality, both the prosecution and defense teams stole the spotlight with their command of inflection and attention to detail. You could see that even the soft-spoken and timid participants had gained confidence in themselves and their abilities as the week went on.
As for the faculty, including my dad, they were inspired and reminded why they do the work they do while simultaneously experiencing the impact of their work. During our most recent trip, one prisoner who I briefly met the previous year made an announcement towards the end of the week-long program that since we saw him last, he had mitigated his life sentence during a new trial and was going to be able to go home to his family.
I don’t know how much I made a difference in any of their lives, but I can definitely say they made a difference in mine. Since the program, there hasn’t been a day that I haven’t tried to adapt their passion and dedication to my own life, especially in my education. How the prisoners and guards approached this opportunity taught me how valuable education and passion are. I didn’t just learn information that was taught in the lessons and lectures, but also empathy, compassion, and appreciation. I admire their unwavering resolve despite all the challenges and obstacles they face on a daily basis.
Children’s Shelters and Advocacy Beyond the Courts
While supporting the program in Naivasha Prison, we were also able to volunteer at multiple children’s shelters in the area where I spent more than a hundred hours teaching and learning from some of the world’s most vulnerable children. Coming from all kinds of backgrounds and sometimes unimaginable circumstances, they all had smiles on their faces and welcomed my sister and me with open arms.
I helped cook meals and teach them basic English and math. In their classrooms, I could feel the energy and passion that those children had for learning despite the unfortunate circumstances they were facing, whether that be abandonment, abuse, or even addiction. We played board games and soccer games during their free time and I sat in on a group counseling session where I got to know all the kids more closely.
We also raised thousands of dollars for the shelters to help them buy clothes, supplies, and learning materials. One specific shelter also helps the incarcerated women from Naivasha’s women’s prison by taking care of their children after they reach the age of four. At the prison, small children are allowed to stay with their mothers until a certain age, but oftentimes, the mothers struggle to care for them due to a lack of resources.
In their position, the women have limited access to the necessities and supplies they need to raise their kids so a group of us worked together to raise several thousand dollars for the incarcerated mothers and their children. After an extensive shopping trip that filled a van with supplies, we were able to provide diapers, children’s clothes, shoes, and many other essentials they needed.
Nigeria: Supporting a Growing Public Defender System
Going to work with my dad has not been limited to prisons in Kenya, but also included a very recent trip to Nigeria. With permission from my high school, two of my sisters and I headed to Nigeria to assist my dad in training Nigeria’s first and rapidly developing public defender system, prosecutors, judges, and even law professors.
The Office of Public Defender (OPD) was established in July 2000 and is currently the only formal system in which the 227 million citizens of Nigeria can receive free legal advice and representation in both criminal and civil matters. From watching lectures in an enormous conference hall to participating in mock exercises in the small breakout rooms, the educational opportunities were endless.
We played the role of witnesses but also conducted direct and cross-examinations ourselves so that my Dad could teach the next generation of Nigerian teachers the skills of teaching advocacy. Building a cohort of Nigerian teachers enables the local offices to continue the training on their own without the cost and burden of bringing in outsiders.
Lessons from Nigeria: Resilience and Collaboration
The ability to join my dad for teaching and training in Nigeria provided so many incredible opportunities. Meeting the Attorney General, Secretary to the State, members of the Judiciary, and countless other dignitaries who took the time to sit down and talk to us was a learning experience that I will never forget.
We faced a few challenges along the way like losing all power including lights and air conditioning in all the breakout rooms. Despite all the curve balls thrown our way, everyone pushed forward and kept the program moving.
This program not only brought together people from all over the United States but also lawyers from Ghana and Ethiopia hoping to replicate our work to support their newly created public defense systems, as well as lawyers from Kenya to help with the training. Watching people from all over the continent come together to share their ideas and pursue their passions was enriching.
Teaching similar skills to those we had taught in the prison, this program helped the entire public defender system, and some prosecutors and private lawyers to become better so that the Nigerian criminal and civil justice systems can better support the needs of their most vulnerable communities.
Lagos’ Office of Public Defenders: A Heavy Burden
The Office of Public Defenders in Lagos is truly an extraordinary organization. When visiting their office I learned that they were down to approximately 45 lawyers from a previous high of 80. This group of amazing advocates supports a population of 23 million people, representing the indigent in both civil and criminal matters.
In contrast, the Defender Association of Philadelphia has approximately 240 lawyers supporting a population of 1.5 million, with a much lower poverty rate, while only handling criminal matters. I was able to learn about and help file the new complaints while defenders explained to me how backed up they were.
With few lawyers wanting to leave their private practices, the office is significantly understaffed. Their well-trained lawyers are being poached by other agencies and private law firms who can pay higher salaries. Because of this, public defenders have no choice but to be well-rounded and able to practice in many areas of the law, which makes their work all the more impressive.
So while most lawyers join the office with a specialty in one area, they end up moving around so much that they become experienced in criminal defense, civil matters, family matters, and juvenile law.
A Global Perspective and Lasting Lessons
Through these experiences, I have been able to see and learn things I never could have imagined. From a maximum-security prison in Naivasha, Kenya to the Office of Public Defenders in Lagos, Nigeria to the children’s shelters in Kenya, I’ve learned how valuable education and the right to counsel are around the world.
I was able to witness the critical role that the justice system has in protecting communities worldwide. The amazing mentors and heroes in the global legal community I have met along the way by going to work with my dad, such as Judge Ann Claire Williams (ret.), Miriam Wachira, Founding Executive Director of Justice Nest, the prisoners and guards of the Naivasha Maximum Security Prison, and countless others, have inspired me to make this world a better place.
They have shown me the beauty of humanity, the importance of advocacy, and the greatness of the global community.
