CLA News / CLA Appoints Prof. Luis Franceschi as Rule of Law Policy Adviser
The CLA is pleased to announce the appointment of Prof. Luis Franceschi as its Rule of Law Policy Adviser, bringing to the role an exceptional record of leadership, including his tenure as Assistant Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations.
A distinguished advocate, academic, and internationally recognised authority on innovation in legal education, judicial transformation and constitutional law, Prof. Franceschi will strengthen the CLA’s strategic voice and impact across rule of law, governance, and legal innovation.
Prof Luis Gabriel Franceschi, LLB, LL.M, LL.D is the immediate past Assistant Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations, an intergovernmental organisation of 56 countries, 2.7 billion people, one third of the world. He was responsible for coordinating the Political, Democracy, Electoral, Public Sector Governance, Peace, Rule of Law, Judicial Transformation, Human Rights, and Countering Violence and Extremism work in the 56 member countries. He was also the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting – CHOGM Conference Secretary.
Prof Franceschi is a Kenyan Advocate and he was the founding Dean of Strathmore University Law School, in Nairobi. As a thinker, educator and writer, he loves positive and disruptive innovation. He was made a Chevalier by the President of Gabon with the Ordre National du Mérite for his outstanding achievements. He was also the recipient of the 2019 legal excellence CB Madan Award and the 2018 Utumishi Bora Kenya National Award. In 2019, he was a visiting scholar at the University of Oxford and U.C. Berkeley Law School in California. His area of expertise focuses on innovation in legal education, judicial transformation, peace negotiations, and comparative constitutional law. He has published widely. He has been a legal advisor to several national and international government agencies, commissions and programmes, including international and regional courts, the United Nations and the World Bank. He has been a Governing Council Delegate and the Legal Advisor to the President of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme, where he co-drafted the UN Nairobi Declaration.
Prof Franceschi likes cycling, running and mountain climbing and has reached Point Lenana, Mt Kenya (5000 Meters ASL) 5 times, Uhuru Peak on Kilimanjaro (5895 Meters ASL) and the Rwenzori Mountains circuit (Uganda-Congo).
