Frances K. N. Ddungu-Smith

About

Frances is a practising Senior Legal Counsel with Twikirize & Co. Advocates, heading the Arbitration department and handling family matters. She is a dual-qualified advocate who is enrolled as an Advocate of the High Court of Uganda, and she was also admitted as a Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Frances has over 16 years of legal work experience dealing with complex cases in Uganda and abroad. Frances is an international commercial arbitrator; she is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), UK Chapter. She has experience in dealing with international legal matters and has successfully represented private clients and local governments. She has been contracted to legally represent different local governments in the UK, such as Nottinghamshire County Council, Leicestershire Council, Lincolnshire County Council, Gloucestershire County Council, Birmingham City Council and Northamptonshire Council, in civil litigation matters, and Ugandans in the diaspora on private matters. Frances is very enthusiastic about alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and delivers ADR training with Makerere University Business School (MUBS), with the mission of enhancing the use of ADR mechanisms as the preferred option in resolving disputes in Uganda. Frances is the founder of the Arbitration and Mediation Society of Uganda (AMSU) and also of the Youth Alternative Dispute Resolution Forum (YADRAF). Frances serves as the President and Chairperson of the UK Ugandan Lawyers Association (UULA) and has done a lot of work with the Uganda Law Society (ULS) in promoting the capacity of Ugandan lawyers in dealing with cross-border legal practice, as well as mentoring Ugandan lawyers in the UK. Frances is a member of the International Bar Association (IBA), the Uganda Law Society (ULS), the East African Law Society, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (UK), the Law Society of England and Wales, and the Arbitration and Mediation Society of Uganda (AMSU).