Swithin J. Munyantwali is an international development lawyer with close to thirty year’s experience leading law reform efforts in Africa. He is Vice Chairman and co-founder of the International Law Institute African Centre for Legal Excellence (ILI-ACLE), an affiliate of the International Law Institute, in Washington, DC. He has led projects which include establishment of public private partnership structures, court restructuring and upgrading, procurement reform, drafting of commercial laws, parliamentary strengthening, and various technical and capacity building activities, resulting in extensive engagements in over thirty five countries in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as all the major bilateral and multilateral global development agencies.
Munyantwali is the Head of Appleton Luff’s East African Office. Appleton Luff is an international boutique law firm separately incorporated in Europe, Asia, the United States, and Africa. Representative clients have included Carnegie Mellon University, SGS, and Tessenderlo.
Munyantwali has served as a party-appointed arbitrator under the auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce (power and telecoms disputes), and the World Bank International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (energy dispute) – with seats in Tanzania, and London, UK. The matters in these cases range from $400 to $600 million.
Munyantwali has served as a Guest Professor at the Macau University of Science and Technology, as well as the City University of Hong Kong Law School. He has lectured at Case Western Reserve Law School, University of Pacific McGeorge, the World Affairs Council in Sacramento, California, and Peking University (School of Transnational Law) in Shenzhen. He is an adjunct lecturer at the Loyola Law School Masters in Law (LLM) Pro Law Program in Rome; he has spoken at the Maine and Kreisky Forums in Camden Maine, and Vienna respectively. Munyantwali has published broadly and been cited on the subject of legal and judicial reform.
Munyantwali has extensive banking experience as a director with major international banks; he serves on the Board of Directors of the Absa Group, where serves on the Audit and Compliance and Social and Ethics Committees. He previously served as Chairman of Barclays Bank, and Absa Bank in Uganda, where he served as the Chairman of Human Resources and Compensation and the Board Audit Committees. Munyantwali serves on the Board of Directors of the International Law Institute in Washington, DC (where he previously served as executive director), and the African Philanthropy Forum.
Munyantwali has served on Special Advisory Boards for Interpol and UN Habitat. Munyantwali is a Judge (Vice-Chairman), on the Staff Appeals Tribunal at the East African Development Bank. He is a member of the Visiting Committee, at the Center for International Affairs, Case Western Reserve University. Munyantwali also serves on the Advisory Boards of the Emerging and Frontier Markets Association, and The New Markets Lab. He also serves on the Dean’s Cabinet For Global Legal Studies at Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
Munyantwali was educated in the United States and holds a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from St. Joseph’s University, a Juris Doctor from Case Western Reserve University School of Law, and a Masters in International and Comparative Law, from Georgetown University Law Center. He is licensed to practice in Pennsylvania.
Munyantwali is a Member of the Cosmos Club (Washington, DC), and has been honoured by the International Bar Association (Innovation).
He is a dual national of Uganda and the United Kingdom.
Munyantwali is married to Lyvia Kakonge, a Canadian Barrister and Solicitor; they have 3 children – a son, Uwe, and twin girls, Teti and Nkunzi. They currently live in Johannesburg.