Maria Mbeneka from Kenya will Chair the 2024 Courtroom Mail 100 selection panel 2024.
Maria Mbeneka,a former Vice President of the East African Law Society is a name Partner of Mbeneka Advocates LLP -a member of the Africa Law Practice (ALP) Network and has been in private practice for 20 years.
Elected council member of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA) in 2019-2021; 2021 to date representing Kenya, as well as the Elected Commonwealth Lawyers Association Treasurer from March 2023.
She is a former council member of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) where she served as the Treasurer & General Member Representative for the period of 2018-2020.
Maria has previously served as a member of the Industrial Property Tribunal (Kenya) from 2010-2013 and the Co-operative Tribunal from 2019 to 2022.
Maria holds a Bachelor of Social Legislation Degree (BSL) and a Bachelor of Laws Degree (LLB First Class Honours) from Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Maharashtra-India; She holds a Diploma in Law from the Kenya School of Law. A trained Mediator, she also holds a certificate from the Mediators Training Institute MTI. She is also a holder of FIDIC training certificate.
In Public service,Maria is a Life member of the Kenya Red Cross Society where she serves as a member of the Election Grievances Committee. She is also a member of the Kenya Girl Guides Association.
She is the immediate former First Lady Laikipia County and Chairperson Emeritus of the County First Ladies Association in Kenya.
The Courtroom Mail project initiated in 2017 but named Courtroom Mail 100 in 2021 is aimed at honouring outstanding female lawyers from sub Saharan African doing exceptional work in their field as Super Heroes,Heroes, Influences and disruptors ( SHID). The panel is made up of members from different countries of Africa.
Rehana Khan Parker,the pioneer Chair, headed the panel in 2022 when Courtroom Mail first started constituting an independent panel for the honour. She also served as the Chair in 2023.
The list is usually published every 8th of March being International Women’s day ( IWD).
This year,Courtroom Mail hopes to inspire inclusion in line with the 2024 theme of IWD. We also join and associate ourselves with the call “Invest in women,accelerate Progress”
We are grateful to all the panel members who have accepted to serve.
