The Young Arbiters Society (YAS) celebrated its official launch in Nairobi on Friday 16th September 2016. YAS is a new inter-university arbitration study initiative, supported by JMiles & Co, and with John Miles as its Patron.
YAS was created on 30th March 2016 by its President, Charles Kimani, a former student of Kenyatta University School of Law. The formation of YAS arose out of the inaugural and extremely successful arbitration moot category at the All Kenyan Universities Moot Court Competition in March 2016, in which JMiles & Co. was a sponsor. Since that time, YAS has had exponential growth. Its membership currently includes students of Strathmore Law School, University of Nairobi School of Law, Kenyatta University School of Law and Kabarak University Law School, and YAS Chapters are being formed in law schools in Ethiopia, Rwanda and Tanzania.
The launch of YAS was supported and attended by a number of organisations in addition to JMiles & Co. They included I-Arb Africa (via video link), Nairobi Centre of International Arbitration, Anjarwalla & Khanna, Oraro & Co Advocates and Kenya Law. John Miles’ remarks at the launch captured the essence of this initiative; “YAS has been formed at a crucial and opportune time. Africa is the world’s fastest growing region for Foreign Direct Investment…it is imperative that the next generation of professionals and leaders are trained and equipped to push forward the development of arbitration on the Continent and benefit from the same.”