Advice in English on matters at home
Most enquiries from Finland are about something in South Sudan or Sudan: land in Juba or Khartoum that a relative is using or selling, an inheritance the family cannot settle, a customary marriage or divorce that a Finnish authority asks to see proof of, a relative detained or facing charges. Prof. Jok explains what the law at home says, what documents exist and how to obtain them, and where a case needs to be taken, and he acts in South Sudan or arranges representation in Sudan on the client's behalf.
Expert opinions for Finnish courts, lawyers and the Immigration Service
Asylum, residence and family reunification cases in Finland often turn on a question of South Sudanese or Sudanese law: whether a marriage concluded under customary law or Sharia is valid and what it means for a spouse or child, who has custody or guardianship of a child under that law, how inheritance passes, or what penalty a person would face under Sudan's Criminal Act of 1991. Prof. Jok writes opinions on these questions in English for the lawyer handling the case, for the Finnish Immigration Service and for the administrative and general courts. Each opinion sets out the question, the legal sources and the answer, and cites his own published work where it is relevant. In Finnish proceedings the client's Finnish counsel conducts the case; Prof. Jok supplies the foreign law.
Teaching at the University of Helsinki
Prof. Jok has been affiliated with the University of Helsinki since his doctorate, at the Department of World Cultures, and teaches law, politics and linguistics there and at the University of Juba. He has lived and worked between Finland and East Africa for many years and knows both the Finnish institutions his clients deal with and the East African ones their matters come from.
