The School continues to enjoy recognition not only as one of the oldest schools in the University but also as the oldest and most prestigious law School in the country. Among the School’s achievements is the large number of law graduates it has produced to meet the human resource needs in the country and in the sub-region not to mention further afield. Many of the School alumni also enjoy recognition as outstanding scholars in the diaspora. In addition to fulfilling the country’s human resource needs, the School has contributed greatly to the development of the Zambian legal system. The School has an excellent faculty that hold doctorates and graduate degrees from highly reputed and internationally recognised Universities.
The School has produced three (3) presidents on the African Continent: President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa SC (1974), his Excellency Edgar Chagwa Lungu (1981) and his Excellency Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe (1976). The School also graduated the retired Chief Justice Ernest Linesi Sakala, the current Chief Justice, Honourable Madam Justice Ireen Chirwa Mambilima, the National Assembly speaker, the Right Honourable Dr. Justice Patrick Matibini MP, and several other judicial officers and high-ranking officials in the government and private sectors.
The School’s internal achievements include the setting up of the Zambia Legal Information Institute ZAMBIALII, an on-line resource. The objective of ZAMBIALII is to, inter-alia; provide free legal information in the form of judgments, case summaries, statutes and statutory instruments. This resource is now run and operated by the Southern Africa Institute for Policy and Research (SAIPAR) under a memorandum of understanding between the University and SAIPAR.
The School has initiated and maintained the Zambian Law Journal, one of the most successful journals in the University.
Through a book project financed by the Swedish International Development Agency in 2004, the School was able to publish 15 core textbooks for its students: The books are now prescribed for use in other Zambian Universities. The School is still running the book project and more books are expected to be written and published under the project.
In 1993 the School hosted the 2nd Southern Africa Moot Court Competition on Human Rights. In October 2015, it hosted the 24th African Human Rights Moot Court Competition. About 61 Universities from 20 African countries participated in this edition of the Moot Court Competition. By hosting this Moot Court Competition in 2015 the University of Zambia became the second African University to host the event twice in 24 years. The moot court competition is the largest annual gathering of students and lecturers of law on the continent. In 2016 the School got the runners up profile in the first ever African Court Moot Competition held in Arusha Tanzania. In 2018, the School participated in four Moot Court competitions. The first was the United Nations Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (UN-FCTC) Moot organised by Beyond Research and funded by the United Nations. This was held in Lusaka and saw the participation of all Law Schools in Zambia. Our School and students in particular won the prize for best couched and researched memorials. The second Moot was the All Africa Human Rights Moot Court held in Ghana. The third Moot Court was the National Moot competition, which is the largest national moot competition. It saw the Participation of all the Law Schools in Zambia except one. Our School won the prize for best, meaning that the School emerged as the winner of the Moot. Apart from being the best team, our student, Chilombo Mukena, won the prize for best speaker. The fourth Moot was the 2018 Musa Dudhia & Co Inter-University Moot Court Competition. Again, the School won this Moot Court.
In 2011, the School set up the two departments of Public Law and Private Law.
In 2013, the School introduced a specialized LL.B (Commercial) Law programme under a Memorandum of Understanding with the Zambia Centre for Accountancy Studies (now ZCAS University). In 2017 the School, in conjunction with the Institute for Distance Education, introduced a Bachelor of Laws degree Programme by Open and Distance learning.
In 2017 the School initiated the University’s first post-doctoral programme under collaboration with the Norwegian Programme for Capacity Development in Higher Education and Research for Development (NORHED). Two academic members of staff, namely, Dr. Fatima Mandhu and Dr. Ellah Siang’andu, are currently enrolled in the post-doctoral programme.
