How he works outside South Sudan and Sudan
Each East African country admits its own advocates, and a case before its courts is conducted by one. Where a client's matter in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda or Ethiopia requires a locally admitted advocate, Prof. Jok works alongside one: he takes the client's instructions, prepares the matter, and supplies the South Sudanese or Sudanese law that cross-border cases in the region so often turn on. Advice, negotiation, legal opinions and matters that do not go before a court he handles directly.
Kenya
Kenya's courts are set by the Constitution of 2010: a Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the High Court, two specialised courts of equal standing with it (the Employment and Labour Relations Court and the Environment and Land Court), Magistrates' courts, and Kadhis' courts for Muslim personal law. English and Kiswahili are the official languages, and advocates are admitted to the roll by the High Court. Nairobi is home to a large South Sudanese community, and Kenya hosts many South Sudanese refugees, so enquiries from Kenya most often concern family and inheritance matters, property and business interests at home, and documents needed for Kenyan proceedings or immigration status.
Uganda
Under the Constitution of 1995, Uganda has a Supreme Court, a Court of Appeal that also sits as the Constitutional Court, a High Court with specialised divisions, and Chief Magistrates' and Magistrates' courts. English is the official language, with Swahili as a second official language. Uganda hosts the largest South Sudanese community outside South Sudan, in Kampala and in the settlements of the north, and matters from Uganda tend to involve the recognition of marriages and custody arrangements, land and inheritance at home, and the position of relatives detained or charged in South Sudan.
Tanzania
Tanzania's highest court is the Court of Appeal, below which the High Court sits with Commercial, Land and Labour divisions, then Resident Magistrates', District and Primary courts; Zanzibar keeps its own courts for non-union matters. Kiswahili and English are both used in the courts. Dodoma is the capital and Dar es Salaam the commercial centre, and Arusha is the seat of the East African Court of Justice and of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, which is why Tanzania matters to clients from the whole region, not only to those living there.
Rwanda
Rwanda's judiciary comprises the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal established in 2018, the High Court, the Commercial High Court and commercial courts, and intermediate and primary courts. Its law is a civil-law system that has taken on common-law features since the country joined the Commonwealth in 2009, and Kinyarwanda, English, French and Swahili are all official languages. Enquiries from Rwanda are mostly commercial: companies and NGOs based in Kigali with contracts, staff or disputes in South Sudan.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia is a federation with federal and regional courts. The Federal Supreme Court, with its Cassation Division, sits above the Federal High Court and the Federal First Instance Court, and each regional state has its own court structure. Ethiopian law is codified, from the Civil Code of 1960 to the Criminal Code of 2004, and Amharic is the federal working language. Addis Ababa hosts the African Union, whose Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan produced the report that Prof. Jok's 2023 article in the International Annals of Criminology examines, and enquiries from Ethiopia often come from South Sudanese and Sudanese living there and from institutions engaged with the Horn of Africa.
Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia
All three are partner states of the East African Community. Prof. Jok takes enquiries from them where the matter concerns South Sudanese or Sudanese law, or rights under the EAC Treaty.
