Zimbabwe's Moyo takes up IBA presidency

Sternford Moyo of Zimbabwe has become the first President of the International Bar Association (IBA) of African descent. Mr Moyo succeeds Brazil’s Horacio Bernardes Neto with a two-year tenure through to 31 December 2022.

A corporate lawyer and senior partner of Harare practice Scanlen & Holderness, Mr Moyo has held numerous senior IBA roles, including council member, management board member, advisory board member and chair of the African Regional Forum, deputy Secretary-General for Southern Africa, co-chair of the Human Rights Institute IBAHRI, trustee of IBA-established entities such as the Southern Africa Litigation Centre and eyeWitness to Atrocities, and member of the Task Force on Illicit Financial Flows, Poverty & Human Rights.

He has also been a bar leader in Zimbabwe and in Southern Africa, and corporate leader in mining, manufacturing, financial services and leadership development.

Mr Moyo has outlined as among the objectives and areas of focus for his presidency: 

• developing effective anti-corruption strategies;
• strengthening the provision of "role model" material from IBA constituents to improve the practical exercise of law;
• updating guidance and recommendations regarding the extractive industries so that strategies meet both investor protection and developmental rights of the communities where the investment takes place;
• focusing on cyber security with the aim of working towards developing best practice guidelines for a new global framework for public institutions and private companies; and
• using digital resources to make the knowledge generated by the IBA more readily available to developing bar associations, lawyers in low income jurisdictions and those at entry level in high income jurisdictions.

The IBA’s new Vice President is Almudena Arpón de Mendívil, a partner with Spanish law firm Gómez-Acebo & Pombo, where she leads the Corporate Technology, Media & Telecommunications group.